The Other World
by swansae515
Summary: Haku wants nothing more than to fulfill his promise to Chihiro, but a impenetrable barrier separates the Human and Spirit Worlds and Chihiro is nowhere to be found. She could be the key to bringing the barrier down, but she's 18 now and has no memories of her time in the Spirit World. What if she's changed? Then a letter from Zeniba comes to invite Haku to the Other World.
1. Chapter 1 - Dragon Prince

**Part 1 - In Those Far Away Days**

 _In those far, far away days_

 _That warmth was the only thing I can feel,_

 _So that when getting lost in the darkness at the end of the road,_

 _All I could do is cry in loneliness._

 _Reprise l. 1-4_

 **Chapter 1 - Dragon Prince**

Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi, the youngest son of the Dragon King, stood on the plains of the Spirit World. As always when he was at this place, he was aware of the river to the south that marked the edge into the Human World. To the east, Yubaba's bathhouse, Aburaya, and the surrounding town, was a barely visible bright smudge on the dark horizon. Wind rippled through the sea of grass all around him and the moonlight reflected off his long, black hair. By any measure, it was a beautiful night, ruined only by the reason he was here.

He looked over to where his brother, Prince Fujisan and heir apparent, was listening to a heated marital spat. They had already been here the better part of the evening, trying to resolve a disagreement between the two spirits regarding an adolescent child. Whether the child was theirs was currently under debate. Haku had seen these two before at court, and judging by what he knew of them, they could easily be stuck here for the rest of the night. A less stubborn couple would have just resolved the fight between themselves, rather than applying to the King. Still, it would not take all night, Haku knew. Fujisan would not want to be late for the King's audience.

"You have no right to him!" the woman yelled.

"And you think you fertilized that spawn all by yourself, do you?" the man retorted.

"How dare you?" the woman screamed, and lunged at him, forcing Fujisan to step in and keep the two apart and attempt to soothe them.

Haku looked down at the boy standing next to him, the one they were arguing over, and raised an eyebrow.

The boy sighed. "Neither of them were around for my growing up. And now that I've got a shrine to my name they barge into my life and try to tell me what to do. It's not worth the fuss, really."

"Maybe you should try to tell them that," Haku suggested quietly.

"Nah, I'll just run away when they're not looking," the boy said frankly. "They'll get tired of me soon enough. You're so lucky. Your father actually listens to you. You're a prince though, so I s'pose he's got to."

"Taka! C'mon over, dear," the woman called.

"Looks like _something_ 's been decided," the boy named Taka said. "Come with me?"

"It won't do any good," Haku said.

Taka shrugged. "Come anyway."

"Taka dear," the woman said when they approached. "His Highness Prince Fujisan says that we're both to take care of you. Would you like that?"

"I can take care of myself," Taka replied. "I don't need either of you."

The man's face turned red. "Now see here, boy. Most spirits aren't lucky enough to grow up with a family…"

The boy looked over at Haku and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Above the man's head, Prince Fujisan glared at his brother. He gripped Taka's shoulder. "Your father's right. You're fortunate to have parents who care about you."

"Right," Taka said sarcastically.

Prince Fujisan ignored his tone. He didn't have the time to bicker. "Now be a good boy and mind them."

"I'm no _hatchling,_ " Taka said. "Don't speak to me like one. But sure. I'll be good. Anything to get this over with. And there, see? You can be on your way now." He turned away from the pair of dragons and to his parents, smiling.

"What did you say to him?" Fujisan hissed.

"Nothing," Haku said.

"Don't encourage _rebellion_ , brother of mine. Anyone would envy how our parents treated you and _this_ is the thanks you give them?" Fujisan straightened as the woman walked toward them.

The woman bowed to both of them. "Thank you so much, Your Highness. And you as well Prince Kohakunushi," she said. "Please give my regards to your father the King."

They returned her bow with nods - the correct acknowledgement from their station to hers - and watched her walk away. With a final glare at his brother, Fujisan disappeared, leaving Haku to return to the palace on his own.

Around midnight, Haku leaned against the windowsill of his bedroom at the underwater palace, gazing into the gardens on the palace grounds. Palace guards, sworn to protect the royal family, and the customary Coronation Guards, hired by Fujisan or second son Prince Tateyama, swarmed around the main palace entrance. Their shiny exoskeletons shimmered under the light of the bioluminescent jellyfish and squid drifting by. He was daydreaming, as he often did while Fujisan guarded the audience chamber where the King sat alone. In his mind, he flew through the air with eleven-year old Chihiro on his back. In his reminiscing mind, fluffy clouds floated past leisurely below, and she was whispering into his ear. Then they were falling, her small human hand warm in his, her hair billowing in the wind, her eyes shining as she smiled at him and pressed her face to his.

Haku looked up. Someone was walking through the arch and up the garden path. The guards approached him in groups, and were fended off by the figure's eminence. They let him pass undisturbed. Haku peered more closely through the window, and recognized the bent posture and hobbling walk at once. His white hair and clothes almost glowed under the jellies' light. It was old Tenryu, no doubt wanting to speak with the King once again about the war. _That won't be happening today,_ Haku thought. _There will be no audience until the heir is officially announced, and he knows it. So why is he here?_

He hurried through the little used servants' passages to the throne room's antechamber where Fujisan presided alone - the light scattered across the room as the walls melted away and reformed to let him pass - and settled in a back corner where he would blend into the rippling shadows sprawled over the walls.

* * *

Tenryu slowly made his way up the path to the Dragon King's palace, which, from a great distance, rose from the sea floor like a string of translucent pearls. The first King had formed it from the water as a gift to his bride, Amaterasu, in the beginning of the world. Before the worlds split, spirits and humans alike traveled from far and wide to see the mythical palace and the dragons who dwelled there. Today, however, Tenryu had no eyes for the glimmering schools of fish that filled the reefs or the forests of kelp in the palace gardens, or for the shining spheres of solid water that made up the rooms of the palace. He had seen the white figure peering down from a window high above the sea floor, and had recognized it.

Tenryu watched the figure back away from the window and smiled to himself. Tenryu knew how hard the young prince had been trying to avoid him. _So Kohaku is intrigued in spite of himself, is he?_ It was about time. Tenryu remembered the human girl at the bathhouse who had pulled the pollution from his banks. Sen, she was called. He had recognized at once what an invaluable jewel she was: a human child untainted by greed. She was the one they needed, he was sure. When he had gone back to the bathhouse to look for her, however, she had gone, and no one knew where. He heard rumors that Prince Kohaku had loved the girl. If anyone could find her, it would be him.

It wasn't long before Tenryu came up the steps and to the entrance hall. The heirs' mercenaries had been charged to keep applicants away, but had no leverage against someone of his rank. They could only bow and uncross their tridents as he entered the hall. The Prince himself stood there on the dais, blocking the open door to the throne room, and thereby access to the King. He had sharp black eyes and a short black beard. His long hair was tied back loosely, and hung until it blended into the shadows of his red, floor-length kimono. He was ten thousand years old. _Still young,_ Tenryu thought.

"My prince," Tenryu greeted the man, bowing respectfully.

Prince Fujisan only acknowledged this deference with an insultingly small nod. "You're here to see my father," he said coldly.

It wasn't a question – another insult – but Tenryu gave no indication of taking offense. "Yes," he agreed mildly.

"As you can see, he's busy. Too busy to attend to any business of yours, Tenryu. Especially if it concerns your obsession with the humans."

"My prince, would we walk away from all that we have loved and protected for eons?" Tenryu asked earnestly. "Walk away from our homes and from our very souls?"

"The only purpose in staying would be to repulse the monsters," Fujisan said lightly, as though discussing the weather. "They parasitize those very homes and souls of which you speak and they spread like the plague."

"The humans aren't evil, my prince," Tenryu said, shaking his head. "They are only ignorant and _gravely_ mistaken." The prince's attitude saddened him. He remembered when Prince Fujisan used to play happily with human children.

"Are you blind and deaf, Tenryu?" Fujisan spat, "or have you been cowering in your den these past centuries? Have you not tasted the poisoned air and water? Did you not feel the earth shaking only yesterday in protest to the abomination the monsters have unleashed? In many places I can no longer feel starlight on my scales. It breaks me more than the spilling of blood on my slopes. Look what they did to Kawauso*, who loved them. They killed him. They think they can use a word like "extinct" and pretend it wasn't murder.

"They have taken everything from me, and they'll have no more. They are evil, greedy, ungrateful beasts." He calmed himself down with a visible effort. Then, steadily, he said, "You are a fool, Tenryu, and my father will not hear you."

Tenryu had been aware of Kohaku's presence since he had entered the room. Now, he acknowledged it, looking into the corner where the younger prince had stood silently this whole time. Tenryu spoke as if half to Fujisan and half to the silent Kohaku: "There is a girl, a human, who would prove you wrong about the humans. She is the pure, innocent child every one of us holds dear in our hearts. Even you, my prince, would not be able to deny it."

Fujisan followed Tenryu's gaze and glared at the young man in the shadows, ignoring this last comment. "You think Kohaku can get you an audience with the king? He's a disgrace. They killed him. They stole his power, and you think he'll side with you? You think he has the strength? Look at him, Tenryu. They have almost made my brother one of _them_ , a pathetic human. You should pity him, and look to the ones with power. And they say you are wise. You should go now. I wish you luck, chasing fairy tales as you do."

Kohaku barely heard Fujisan's contemptuous words. The sentiment had not been a new one. It was what Tenryu had said about the girl, the girl could only mean Chihiro, that had drained the blood from his face.

* * *

A banquet was held every night after the King's audience. It was a chance, especially at this end of the millennia, to see the King, since competing heirs couldn't filter through every person who approached. The crowd drifting about the King in the spherical banquet hall was so thick that the King was barely visible to the rest of the room. It was also a chance for those in need to fill their stomachs, since everyone was welcome, and food was aplenty.

Tonight's was nothing special. The globular hall, which floated disconnected to the rest of the palace, had been shrunk to suit the smaller size of the party. Servers moved about the room with trays of food and drink. The only unusual occurrence was that all three princes were present. Fujisan, the eldest, and Tateyama, the second son, ignored their brother, which meant the crowd generally ignored him as well.

This suited Prince Kohaku just fine. It left him free to keep an eye on Tenryu, chattering away with some of the older spirits on the other side of the room. Still, there were always certain people…

Kohaku took a drink from a passing server as a woman approached him.

"Your Highness," the woman said, bowing.

Haku put on his best courtier face and turned to her. "How may I serve you, Lady Ame?"

"My son, Your Highness. He's of an age to be at court. _Past_ the age, in fact. If your father has an opening… Even learning to serve would be an improvement to what he's been doing, running about wild and uncivilized."

Haku smiled. "I will do what I can, my lady."

"Thank you so much, Your Highness. Please don't go to any trouble," Lady Ame said. "I just wish you'd keep him in mind if your father ever mentions the need…"

"What is your son's name?" Haku asked.

"Yes, Your Highness, it's Shik-"

Over Lady Ame's head, Haku saw Tenryu slipping away from the crowd and toward the door. Haku bowed, cutting her off. "My apologies, my lady. I have been summoned. I shall keep your son in mind." He bowed again, and floated toward where he had seen Tenryu last. He was gone. Through the wall of the palace he saw the distorted image of the older dragon walking down the path. He looked around - no one was paying him any attention - and then pressed his palm against the crystalline wall. As a member of the royal family, he had the power to shape the solid water of the palace as he wished, but in the company of those who couldn't, it was still _rude_. The wall parted like jelly to let him through, and then solidified again behind him. He was out.

Haku shifted into his dragon body and swam toward the ocean floor, staying among the kelp and out of sight. The currents from the guards passing above him rippled along his hide. He wondered why Tenryu would choose to walk when swimming would be much faster. _Is he waiting for me? Waiting or not, some things need to be said._ He caught up with the old spirit and changed back behind a passing school of fish. There were perks to the dragon form, but talking was not one of them. He waited until Tenryu rounded a bend in the path that put some coral between him and the guards by the palace entrance, then emerged from behind a coral topiary along the path and into Tenryu's way.

"What did you intend by coming here today, Tenryu?" Haku asked, his eyes narrowed.

"My prince, I came to see your father, the King."

"You won't see the king, not with only a few months until he abdicates," Haku said. "You should've known Fujisan wouldn't permit it. You shouldn't have come."

"You could get me an audience," Tenryu said.

Haku laughed bitterly. "Maybe I would've tried, before today. But you did not come to me. And now, why would I, if the girl you mentioned to Fujisan is who I think it is?"

"So you agree with me, that she is the one we need."

"If we were in agreement, then you would not even consider dragging her into this mess."

"We need her, Your Highness, just as we need you."

"I've told you before. I can't be the king you want."

"Your father must abdicate this year. We're low on candidates and we're low on time. We're not picky, Prince Kohaku," Tenryu told him.

"Perhaps you could offer Fujisan that loyal support. He would appreciate it, I'm sure."

Tenryu ignored this. "I want you to help find the girl," he said.

"I will not."

"So you know where she is," Tenryu said.

"It does not matter. You will not involve her. Besides, she's eighteen now," Haku said. "She's not a child anymore; I doubt she's still as "pure and innocent" as the girl you imagine, and her life is not yours to appropriate. Find someone else. Leave her alone."

"You won't be able to ignore the war for much longer, my prince," Tenryu warned. "The bridges between the worlds are crumbling, if you haven't noticed, and then you'll never see her again."

"I can't cross the border anyway," Haku laughed. "She is cut off from me. I'll never see her again. Don't you get it? My brother is right. They killed me. I should be dead, understand? Dead, like Kawauso is dead!" Haku's voice rose until he was shouting. Then, looking straight at Tenryu, he said: "Stop searching for her. Leave her out of it."

Haku had a feeling he knew what role Tenryu wanted Chihiro to play in the war, and he didn't like it. He could think of nothing more dangerous than bringing her to Akuma's attention. Tenryu was right when he said she was special. They all knew it. But that didn't give him any right to involve her in their insane cause. She deserved to be safe. And happy.

* * *

Haku bowed deeply as he entered the king's private study, and then folded himself onto a mat before the low table. He watched the king sift green tea into two bowls and slowly whisk steaming water into the matcha.

The study was one of the only rooms within the palace that was dry. It was a bubble, suspended beneath the ocean's surface, and designed to allow the preparation of tea. The king always made the tea himself. It was a time of peace for him to spend with his youngest son, the last one left at home.

Haku sipped the bitter green foam slowly, aware of the king's eyes gazing at him above the clay rim of the bowl. The fragrance calmed him. He replaced his tea on the table before meeting his father's gaze and speaking: "What is your stance on the evacuation, honored father?"

"No one has asked me to intervene," the king replied impassively. "Thus, I have no stance."

"Is it true that the bridges between the worlds are close to collapse?"

"The connection has been weakening for some time," the king said.

"The loss would be terrible if the worlds break apart," Haku said angrily. "Don't they understand that if they all leave, there will be nothing holding the worlds together?"

"The choice to leave or to stay is one they must each make on their own."

"But you disagree."

"It does not matter whether I agree or disagree. The king's opinion counts for little if there is no one willing to plead his case. It counts for even less in the year of the coronation. It counts for nothing. Human rulers may make decisions on their behalf, but under our laws the king's role is to be the judge and the servant of the people. The king _must_ _not_ infringe on the pride and autonomy of our people. Such is the burden of the arbiter. In that way, I have less say than the weakest of my people." He looked intently at his son. "Kohaku, as long as I am king, you are one of my subjects as well as my son. Bring your evidence. Plead your case. I will hear you just as I hear any other dragon who wishes to be heard."

 _Any other dragon who makes it to the council room_ , Haku thought dryly, but keeping the thought to himself did not stop King Nihonkai from hearing and replying to it.

"Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi," he said sternly. "At this moment you are in no place to even think disrespectful thoughts about Fujisan. Do not grovel and apologize for your thoughts. So you are dissatisfied with the way things are. What are you going to do about it?"

"What could I possibly do about it, Father? And after this year, I will have even less power than I do now, if that were even possible." Haku rose from his seated bow as ordered. He was still ashamed of his outburst in front of Tenryu, but he was too tired to keep the bitterness from his voice. "You can't mean for me to pursue the throne. I know you and Mother hoped I would, before, but that's foolishness now. What good is a crippled king to the people?"

The king looked at his son without pity. "King or not, you are not powerless as your brother seems to think. As the king is not free, neither are you free. You may not have a choice."

* * *

Haku ran his fingers along the fine web of scars on his side, willing the currents of the palace to wash away the cold sweat left by his recurring nightmare. In the dream, he had been trapped under a glass dome. He had thrown himself at it, over and over, until his scales cracked and he fell from the sky… and woke up.

After Chihiro had gone back to the Human World, Haku had quit his "apprenticeship" at the bathhouse. He had tried to find her then, to keep his promise to her, and had discovered the magical barrier that kept him from leaving the Spirit World. Other spirits could cross, and did, every evening by ferry or train or on foot. He could not. Perhaps when his body in the Human World had been destroyed - filled in with apartments - his connection with the human world had been as well.

He had no clear memories of that time, except in his dreams. They were dreams of terror, of grief, of desolation, and of that one warm, golden soul beyond the barrier, unreachable forever.

In his waking moments, only the scars on his back and sides proved that he had lived through those days.

Seven years had passed since Chihiro left the Spirit World. Seven years since he had promised Chihiro he'd see her again. Seven years since he had told Chihiro that he would be fine. Haku regretted those words every day. He had not been able to keep his promise, and he was far from fine. He now understood many things about the worlds and people who inhabited them. He understood that without his river, he was not a true dragon, not anymore, and that he would never, ever see Chihiro again.

Haku had almost fallen asleep again with these thoughts when a servant knocked on his door with a note for him. He lay in bed awake for a long time, staring at the words and trying to control the hope that was bubbling up in his chest - hope that he thought had died years ago. The note said:

 _I found her. - Zeniba._

 ***Kawauso is Japanese for "river otter." The Japanese River Otter was officially listed as extinct in September 2012, while I was working on the first draft of this story.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Chihiro

**Chapter 2 - Chihiro**

Seven years ago, both of them had been children. Chihiro was young in years, Haku, young in experience. They had viewed the world simply, unburdened by adult complexities, and had loved each other the way only children could.

Zeniba watched them grow up as much as her magic allowed. She had spelled the hair tie to join and to protect. Using it, Zeniba could find Chihiro wherever she went in the world. Zeniba and Haku watched as Chihiro settled into her new school. She did not remember her experiences in the Spirit World. The Gate had done its job, and had locked her memories away as she had walked through it. Still, she blossomed into a cheerful and confident little girl. In her new home and at her new school, she worked hard and seemed happy enough, though it was clear she found it difficult to make friends. Things seemed normal. Then one day, when she was twelve, the spell stopped working. Or perhaps she had simply taken off the hair tie. Everything was dark. It was as if she'd disappeared off the face of the earth.

After that, there was no reason for Haku to live at Swamp Bottom any longer. His outer injuries had healed. As for heartbreak and grief, there was no telling how long it would take. Zeniba urged Haku to go back to the palace and family he no longer remembered, and the King had been overjoyed. Under Nihonkai's guidance, Haku quickly regained many of the years he had lost, though as a river spirit without a river, the powers that were a dragon's birthright remained elusive. The child was still not quite whole.

The shutters rattled. The door opened, and Haku entered. He was taller than he had been the last time Zeniba had seen him. His hair had grown out about his shoulders as befitted a young prince. His face, still pale, had lost some of its roundness. His olive-green eyes echoed with grief, though he didn't know it.

 _Child?_ Zeniba thought. _They are no longer children. And by the time this ordeal is over, they will be fully adult._

* * *

Haku was afraid. For five years he'd dreamt of her, the Chihiro that he knew. He had told Tenryu that she had no doubt changed, and in his mind he knew that she had. A lot happened between twelve and eighteen. But still he hoped he would know her. He even hoped, irrationally, that she would know him.

He walked into the living room. Zeniba greeted him warmly, and he replied with his own greeting. She continued to talk but in Haku's attention had been completely taken up by the magical window hanging in the air above the table. _Zeniba must've scanned the entire town to find her,_ he thought.

At first, Haku was afraid there had been a mistake. The window was dark. Then a screen lit up in the room beyond the window, illuminating a dozen adolescent humans piled onto couches and a low table covered with food and bottles and glasses of drink. One girl stood, microphone in hand, her swaying figure silhouetted by the bright screen. Words crawled across the picture below the image of two lovers. The others laughed. There was no sound, but Haku could almost smell the alcohol on her breath.

Zeniba came to stand behind him. With a gesture, the view shifted to the faces of the young men and women sitting and standing around the couches, illuminated by the light from the screen. Haku cried out. The faces were blinding white and there were glittering voids were the eyes should be.

He looked closer. The girls had painted their faces and were improbably dressed, some in cloth that was transparent in the harsh light of the screen, others in spiked and garishly colored stomach-baring tops. In the twilight, they looked like mannequins. _Chihiro can't possibly be among them,_ Haku thought. He tried desperately to find a girl that stood out from the others.

The window moved toward the face of one of the female mannequins. She was holding a half-empty glass in one hand and was laughing and shouting with the rest. She had short dark hair, waved to look windblown and gelled to the nines, with a blond streak on one side. Her face filled the magical window as her green-tipped fingers raised her glass to her darkened lips, and there she was. Behind the exaggerated plastic eyelashes, those big brown eyes were Chihiro's eyes.

Haku held his breath as he stared at the image. _What did the human world do to her?_ Then Zeniba's words from minutes ago finally registered.

"What did you say?" he said.

"It's possible," Zeniba said. "The worlds are still connected in some secret places. I've known for some time now, but I didn't want to get your hopes up, Haku."

"Get my hopes up!" Haku exclaimed. _It's possible to cross the border?_ "You should have told me. Do you know the despair… I had completely given up seeing her again…"

"It would've been a far crueler thing to tell you," Zeniba said sternly. "The information was useless as long as we couldn't find her. You time was well spent reuniting with your family and your responsibilities. But now, it is time."

"Now?" Haku said, taken aback. _I can see Chihiro now?_ The image of that china face with its painted cheeks and lips, inhuman eyelashes, and stiff bobbed hair filled his mind. Except for the eyes. He had recognized those eyes. Maybe he would recognize other things. "Tell me how."

"Watch carefully."

He felt Zeniba place a hand on his arm and pushed the troubling thoughts away, leaving the excitement bubbling under his skin in its place. The vision of a spring appeared in his mind. Through the eyes of a fish, he sank beneath the surface and against the current deeper and deeper into the source of the spring. The tunnel around him narrowed until he squeezed through a small hole in the rock, and then like an hourglass it widened dramatically. The vision rose until it broke the surface of the water on the other side. Haku was incredulous. He had recognized the spring as the one behind Zeniba's house. _Passage had been hidden beneath the swamp this whole time!_

"Do you see where it is?" Zeniba asked.

"Yes," Haku said.

"Good. Before you go, remember, she won't recognize you or anything else about her time here. Moreover, the spell uses pain to train humans to avoid anything that triggers those memories. Fear, hatred and ignorance of the Spirit World spreads on the other side as a result, which I'm certain he intended. The charm I placed on her hair tie sealed her memories into the realm of dreams when she passed through the Gate, away from her consciousness. They should be safe, if dormant. Without the charm's protection, her memories can be dangerous. Be careful."

Zeniba beckoned, and led Haku through the house and out the paneled back doors into the swamp.

* * *

Haku emerged from the lake on the human side of the barrier, exhausted. The current had been stronger than the vision had led him to believe, and he had swum against it for hours. The sky on the human side was grey with the false dawn. Haku pulled himself into a clump of bushes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Sunrise woke him. It was the wrong color, and the edges of the sun were soft, as if he was looking through a piece of glass or the wall of the palace. Haku shuddered and sat up. The air felt thicker. He looked at the surface of the lake and frowned. The water rippled. The ground was trembling. _Is there a territory dispute between the local spirits?_ Haku wondered. _Who could it be? The guardian of the lake?_ Then he realized he had heard no consciousness in the lake water since he had emerged. He shook his head and put the thought out of his mind.

The smell of human musk led him uphill through the woods, away from the acrid fumes of the road, until he could see a row of houses beyond the trees. He watched groups of children pass, younger ones and older ones. And then there she was, walking with a group of girls all wearing the same t-shirts and pleated skirts - no doubt a uniform of some kind. He quickly stepped behind a tree to avoid being seen. Her face was no longer as round as he remembered; the delicate skin hugged the cheekbones more tightly now, but it was still familiar. Her face was shockingly pale, her eyelids and eyelashes a deep blue whenever she blinked, and her lips were flamboyantly red. It was as if someone had replaced her face with a flesh-colored canvas, and then had painted the features back on. She wore her hair in a bob that hung to her chin. One rose-gold lock peeked out from beneath her bangs by one ear.

Some young men turned a corner into the street. The two groups merged. A few couples moved to the periphery of the group and began to kiss loudly. Haku withdrew his gaze in disgust. His eyes fell back on Chihiro, who was bantering with a taller boy while smacking on a piece of gum. He said something Haku didn't catch, puffing his chest out as he did. Chihiro smirked and rolled her eyes in response, and the group shrieked with laughter. The boy looked disgruntled.

Haku suppressed the fear that was welling up inside and inspected the boys' uniforms. Easy enough. He waved a hand over his white knee-length kimono. It now looked like a black jacket and tie over a white collared shirt, with black slacks. His face had lengthened in the last few years, but he was still recognizable. Still, he wanted to show Chihiro a face that was his own. With a sigh, he reached up and tied back his shoulder length hair.

When the next group of boys passed, he left the shelter of the trees and followed them at a distance to the school.

With the help of a little magic, he talked his way past the school administrators and into the classroom. The time he had spent at the bathhouse as a witch's apprentice had some use after all. He was disappointed to find that the boys and girls attended separate schools, but it wasn't long before he heard someone mention Chihiro's name.

 _Humans are so obvious,_ Haku thought. _Do they realize they haven't filtered their odors?_ His nose was able to pick out every base emotion the boys emitted, by scent. It didn't take long for him to insert himself into the most influential group of young men, a gang led by Kane, the boy Chihiro had spoken with before school. They were too easy to read.

But by the end of the day, his sensitive nose and ears had been so overwhelmed that they felt numb. He longed to den up in a cave in clear, shallow water and wait for spring to come. He lagged behind as they left the schoolyard, cajoled into staying in the group by Kane.

And then there she was again, in the fenced lawn of the girls' school talking to the long-haired girl next to her. Haku's heart thumped against his ribcage.

The salty metallic smell of human females filled his nose as the girls swarmed out of the schoolyard. The air around them grew warm with the heat of so many bodies crowded together. Haku lost sight of Chihiro immediately. The girls all looked the same in their uniforms, with their faces hidden behind the boys' taller frames. He looked around. Kane had disappeared too. Everyone was talking at once. Warm bodies pressed in on every side. Haku imagined his senses frying.

Haku scanned the faces around him, trying to hold off the dizziness. He finally spotted Kane, leaning against the cast iron gate. He had his arm snaked around Chihiro's waist possessively and was whispering in her ear. She laughed and pushed his arm away playfully. Haku's heart sank. He began to wade through the sea of flesh toward her.

Chihiro's long-haired friend elbowed her as Haku approached, and she turned around. Haku saw her gaze explore his face curiously. He was almost a full head taller than she was, and she had to tilt her head to see his face at this close proximity. Haku looked from her long skinny legs showing below her short skirt to her lime green fingernails to her face, which was still painted, though not freakishly so. The air reeked of testosterone and sweat. He wanted to gag. He held his breath and bowed slightly. She blushed. "My name is Kohaku," he said. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Chihiro's eyes widened. For a second he allowed himself to hope that maybe she recognized him. But then she bowed back, and when she straightened, the moment of uncertainty had passed.

"My name is Ogino," she said, raising her voice to be heard above the din. "Ogino Chihiro. Pleased to meet you." It was hard to concentrate on her words. The voices of the crowd battered at his ears. Her words replayed in his mind. Her voice was so formal, so polite. The blond lock of hair swayed in the wind. _Where was she?_

"Chihiro," Haku began to say. He couldn't bring himself to call her by her last name, after all she'd done for him, all they'd done together. He couldn't pretend that he didn't know her. It would make it real. After all the first time they had met she had, _literally_ , fallen into him. If only he could explain, surely she would understand. _Let me take you somewhere I can think straight._ "I-"

Kane glared at Haku and interrupted. "Let's go, Chihiro," he said, and tried to pull her away. His body exuded the smell of adrenaline. Haku barely stopped himself from slapping Kane's hand away from Chihiro.

"Don't be a jerk, Kane. Let me talk to him," Chihiro protested.

 _Does she forgive my rudeness?_ Haku thought.

"Do you know him?" Kane demanded.

"I don't think so," Chihiro said thoughtfully. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her voice jumped up an octave. "Nope, definitely not. But he's cute!" she teased. Her voice seared Haku's ears. He mentally grimaced. She flashed a smile toward Haku while looking at Kane.

Kane ignored this jibe. "Then he has no right to address you by your first name," Kane said. "Come on. We're going to my place tonight, remember?"

 _Place? His home? What is she doing there?_ Haku's thoughts swirled. He couldn't keep them coherent.

There was a slight hesitation - some subconscious thought passed, perhaps, like a cool breeze - but before Haku could do anything, Chihiro turned around and called out: "Yumi! Akari! Movie night at Kane's, let's go!"

A few of the girls and boys emerged from the crowd, bantering and chattering about home theaters and actors and clothes. Without the magnetism of the popular kids holding it together, the group dispersed in every direction. Haku was left standing there, shell shocked and ears ringing, looking in the direction that Chihiro had disappeared in. Her last words still echoed in his ears. She had not once looked back.

"Wow," a voice said dryly. Haku turned around and looked down. It was Chihiro's friend, the long-haired girl. She was in the same uniform that the others wore, and she was the same age as the others, but there was something different about her. _Is it because she isn't wearing any make-up?_ Haku thought. But it seemed to be something more fundamental than that. Then Haku realized that the oppressive and musky smell of humans, which had nauseated him all day, was quickly diffusing. He looked at the girl in surprise. _Who is she? And what is she doing here?_ She couldn't be human. _A local spirit?_ Haku thought, _but what would a spirit be doing at a high school?_

"You really shook her," the girl commented, seemingly oblivious to Haku's surprise.

"What do you mean?" Haku asked.

"I mean Chihiro, of course," the girl said, nonchalant. "Don't think I didn't notice you staring at her that entire time. Her acting is usually better than it was today. I mean, did you hear her voice jump? What a mess."

"Acting?" Haku said.

The girl laughed happily. "I'm Shinkono Risuni," she said. She looked up and smiled a genuine smile at Haku. "You're new in town, aren't you? Shall I show you around?"

* * *

Haku leafed through the silk-bound copy of the Kojiki in astonishment. Someone had put a lot of time and magic into the volume he held in his hands. The technique was impeccable; the spell had been woven so that it lay dormant in the spine's binding, adding and revising to the tale written in the pages as the history played out. _That girl, Risuni, knew about this?_ Haku thought.

There wasn't much to the small town that Chihiro lived in. Risuni had shown him around the parks, the small mall, and other public spaces, telling him stories as they went, and had ended her tour at the library. She had left him there and gone home. Haku's eyes had been drawn to the enchanted tome immediately.

The air in the library was cool and still. The human smell of the other patrons was diluted with the vanillin of old books. Haku felt the small hairs standing on his skin settle for the first time that day. He flipped back to the beginning of the book, to the creation story, to read the book properly.

Haku didn't know how long he'd been standing there when suddenly he heard Chihiro's voice moving towards him in the aisle. She was talking softly to herself.

"The beauty of a sharpened blade; thy shadow mirrors that sword point..."

Haku recognized those words, though he had not remembered them until the moment he had heard them. He joined in, singing softly. "Only the forest spirits know your heart concealed in sorrow and anger…" _What else is concealed in my heart? Would the forest spirits know?_

He heard her gasp and stop her recital. She came to his row and froze. She was still in her school uniform and make-up. There was something incongruous about her flamboyant appearance in the quiet atmosphere of the library.

"Um, hi," Chihiro stammered after a few seconds of silence. Her face flushed. "I didn't expect anyone else to be here. I heard you, uh, singing. What was that… I mean, sorry."

Haku stared at her, perplexed. "There's nothing to apologize for, Chihiro" he said. Belatedly, he remembered to bow. As far as she knew, they had met for the first time earlier that day. "May I help you with something?"

"Okay, I guess. I, uh, was actually looking for that." She pointed to the book in his hands. Her neck and ears were pink with heat.

Haku looked down at the book he still held held in his hands. _She was looking for this? Does she realize what this is?_ He closed the book and handed it to her. "Have you read this?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, it's for my history paper…" She stared down at her shoes. She seemed embarrassed for some reason. There was none of the confident manner that she had embodied earlier that day.

"It's a very unusual anthology," Haku said. "I don't know if you realized that." _Could she possibly remember? Could the Gate have had no effect on her?_

She slowly opened the book to the first page of the creation story and looked up at him. He nodded slowly. He could see her pulse rising in the exposed artery in her neck. His own heart was pounding, and he wondered briefly if she could see it the way he could. He was afraid. She was so close to remembering, and so close to the war.

Maybe she caught his fear, because she gulped.

"There you are, Chihiro!" Risuni's head poked into the aisle, startling them both. "I should've known. Why didn't you pick up your phone? I only called you, oh I don't know, eight million times," Then she saw that Kohaku was standing there with Chihiro. "Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something? I'll leave you guys to it. Don't mind me." She grinned at Chihiro, eyes twinkling merrily.

Chihiro glared back. "It's not like that," she protested.

Haku looked from Risuni to Chihiro. Their expressions seemed to be saying something in a secret language, one unreadable to Haku. "That's not necessary," he said. "I was just about to leave. It was nice seeing you both." He bowed to them, and left. Risuni turned to watch him go, winking and smiling at him once her back was to Chihiro. _She had known Chihiro would be there,_ Haku realized. _She arranged this meeting._

As he left he heard her say to Chihiro: "It's getting late, so I'll let you off the hook today, but you are telling me _everything_ when you come over tomorrow."

The smile slipped off Haku's face as the door of the library closed behind him. Beneath his feet, the ground was trembling again.

* * *

The water streamed down Haku's sides as he emerged from the spring. The water seemed to flee from his hair and clothes as he transformed, scales melting away into skin and cloth. He trudged toward the house and slid open the paper-screen doors. He had stayed here for a year after he left the bathhouse, and after he had left Zeniba had kept the bedroom furnished for him. He could hear her bustling around beyond the closed door that led to the rest of the house - night was when spirits were up and about - but he was too tired for conversation. The exhaustion from crossing the borders between the worlds in this way had drained him, but was minor still compared to a day in the presence of human teenagers. His ears felt raw from the stimulation of so many voices.

 _You'd think that after the bathhouse… How do humans deal with… And to think that it was in the spring all that time…_ His mind jumped from thought to thought, but many of them were left trailing off. His weariness was deep, and left him without the energy to follow the trains of thought to their conclusions.

He lay on the bed, staring up into the darkness of the ceiling. In his human form, the ceiling disappeared into the darkness, except where shreds of moonlight illuminated it. He could almost pretend he was looking down into the deep. _What is it like to be instead of just to see? Where is the part of me which is still missing?_ And he thought of Chihiro, whose voice had rung out without effort but others ran to obey; whose face and smile radiated confidence and detachment; who held herself like royalty and need notice no one. And then there was the other Chihiro, the one who was shy, who knew the songs of seven hundred years ago, even if the tunes had been lost. The one who was a child. _And the other girl, the one who wasn't human... She said Chihiro was acting. But why? And which Chihiro is the real one?_ He meant to think about it more, but the day had been overwhelming, and soon the darkness of the room faded behind the darkness of his eyelids, and he fell asleep.

* * *

Zeniba saw Haku rise from the spring and stagger into the house, and she sighed. She couldn't speak to the swamp water like the dragons could, but she had been out there every day for centuries, and her senses told her that things were still not right. She had built her house here when she realized that the worlds were still connected here beneath the rock, and at first she had thought that the wrongness in the swamp was because the lake was polluted on the human side. But the small silver fish that used this point to cross the border told her it wasn't so. They told her that it was because the lake was dead. For a long time she could not understand how this was so - _the lake existed and things lived in it, so how can it be dead?_ \- but its spirit had never awakened. And she saw that the problem was more widespread than Swamp Bottom. There were many such "dead" places.

And then, seven years ago, Haku showed up at her door. Rivers had been destroyed by humans before. The spirits of those rivers had died. Haku survived. He seemed to have no memories of his past and only the most rudimentary of a dragon's magic, but he was alive.

Zeniba had hoped that the spring would adopt Haku as its spirit, and that it would heal him in the process. Haku had been reluctant, but had also wanted to please her, and so for the year and a half that he had stayed with her, she had watched him go out there every night to sit in the waters, letting his magic flow out over the surface. Nothing had ever come of it. There was some kind of barrier that prevented Haku from fusing with the spring. _Even so, he's grown up_ , she thought. _Of all of Nihonkai's sons, he has the most potential. Even now._

A fleet shadow suddenly darted across the face of the moon, catching her attention. Then another, and another. It looked like a flock of swan geese migrating in a V, but it was the wrong time of year. _Something is wrong_ , she thought, and almost immediately, one of the goose spirits faltered and dropped. Four of the others dove to help their sister, and then flew back up to the flock, supporting the injured goose with their backs and necks. They flew on out of sight, toward Aburaya.


	3. Interlude: Sabotage

**Interlude: Sabotage**

A lightly spotted cat groomed the blood-stained feathers from its lips and paws. The leftovers of its dinner, a half-eaten carcass of a swan goose, lay on the ground before it. The goose's wing had been almost as long as the cat from head to tail. The prey was a definite perk of the job.

Now clean, the cat padded down to the railroad tracks. Most of the people who saw it assumed it was feral, but a few exclaimed at the sight. After all, mountain cats like this one were not native to Onagawa. The cat ignored the stares and pointing fingers, intent on its destination. It followed the tracks to the station.

It wound between the legs of the people on the platform until it found a child guarding some luggage, his parents nowhere to be seen. It allowed the child to pet it and pick it up. A few minutes later, it led the child out of the station.

Later that day, the child crawled into one of the outflow pipes at the Onagawa nuclear power plant, chasing after his new pet. In footage from security cameras retrieved after the reactor exploded, the cat was nowhere to be seen.


	4. Chapter 3 - Masks and Contradictions

**Chapter 3 - Trouble**

The next day, there was an addition to Chihiro's group walking to school. Haku watched from behind a tree as he spelled his clothes to match the boys' uniform. The new girl was small, with a pale, rounded face like a doll and large, dark eyes and black lips. She was surrounded by the other girls.

"Your parents let you wear that out of the house? I'm so jealous," one sighed.

"Do you like it?" the girl simpered. "It's the new _Givenchy_."

There was a collective "oohhhhhh."

"When did you move here?" Chihiro asked. "Where did you go to high school before?"

Haku frowned as he followed them quietly. Something wasn't right. The ground still trembled occasionally, but that wasn't it. It was the new girl. There was something off about her. He could sense the boys approaching from around the corner. That would give him an opening to join the group.

"Nowhere interesting," the new girl said. "I'd rather hear about _this_ place. Are there any cute boys here?" She snagged Chihiro's arm and pulled her closer. "I bet they all fall for _you._ "

"Leave her alone," Risuni snapped, pulling Chihiro away.

"Why?" the girl asked with a sneer. "She doesn't belong to you. _Right,_ Chihiro?"

The boys appeared, leading to a round of introductions. Risuni pulled Chihiro to the back of the group.

"What's the matter?" Chihiro said. "You're usually nicer to new kids. Like that tour yesterday with Kohaku..."

"Did you see the way she was looking at you?" Risuni whispered. "I don't trust her. And I may not know make-up, but I've been your friend long enough to know that if that's 'Gee- _vaun_ -chi', I'm a baboon."

"You know I can't afford Givenchy," Chihiro said pointedly.

"They cater to classy rich people," Risuni said. "Not to the high-schooler fad of the day…"

A call from Kane drew Chihiro back into the center of the crowd. Haku caught up with the back of the group and fell in step next to Risuni.

"Who's the new girl?" he asked casually.

Risuni glanced sideways up at him. "She calls herself Kiyo. And you know just as well as me that that's no _girl._ "

Haku dropped his voice. "How do you know? And who are you?"

"I should be asking _you_ those questions," Risuni replied, keeping her eyes on the new girl, "but now's not the best time for this conversation. You don't seem to mean any harm. Unless… did you lead her here?"

"I've never seen her before," Haku said.

"That doesn't mean you didn't lead her here," Risuni commented. "Look, if you're going to maintain the popularity that your looks got you, you should be up there in the middle of that group, not talking to me. They got used to me being Chihiro's pet weirdo years ago, but if all the popular kids start talking to me, they're going to start suspecting me. So go on. We can talk later."

Haku took her advice and went to instigate himself in with the "cool" kids. Behind him, he felt Risuni's gaze continue to observe the group's dynamics intently.

* * *

"Did'ja see the new girl?"

"Course! New blood, man."

"Did you spend all of math class drawing her, bro? Lemme see that. Guys, check it out."

"Hey, give that back!" the boy protested.

"That's actually not bad," another boy commented, examining the stolen notebook. "I didn't know you could draw."

"How 'bout you, Kane? New girl?"

"Look at all of you. No loyalty at all," Kane said in disgust.

"Still Chihiro all the way?" someone teased.

"She's still pretty, bro. We're not saying she ain't."

"Cold, though. She's never gone for anybody. We might actually have a chance with this one."

"Maybe she doesn't swing that way," the boy with the notebook said, shrugging when Kane glared at him. "It's possible. Just sayin'."

"That's not true," Kane said.

"How come she never agrees to go out with you then, huh? Don't kid yourself."

"Maybe she an' Shinkono. They're always hanging out after school."

"Do you think they _do_ it?"

"Gross, man."

"What! I know I'm not the only one thinking it."

"Kohaku, I saw your eye on her yesterday. We should warn you, she's never liked _anyone._ Don't get your hopes up."

"I'll keep it in mind, thank you," Haku said to hoots of laughter.

Haku spent the rest of the school day closely studying the interactions of the boys around him. A touch of magic meant that the teachers never called on him to speak during class, and left him free to mull over what Risuni had said that morning. If she was right, and Haku had led Kiyo here, then he may have caused exactly what he had feared. _Did Akuma send this girl? Kiyo? Why is she here? For that matter, why am I here?_ Soon enough, the school day was over.

"Ugh, I can't believe we have to read this whole thing before school's out."

" _And_ write a paper on it," Chihiro added.

"It's so stupid. No one's going to need to know _myths_ once finals are over," another girl exclaimed.

Risuni caught Chihiro's eyes and smiled as Chihiro stuck her tongue out.

"Hey, Chihiro, Akari," Kane called. "We're gonna grab ice cream from that new shop."

The new girl, Kiyo, smiled at them from where she stood next to Kane.

"Sweet," Akari replied, joining the group.

"I can't," Chihiro said, grimacing. "I'm already behind on this reading and my parents are getting on my case about my grades."

"You have, like, the strictest parents ever," one of the girls complained. "You're doing way better than I am."

Chihiro waved. "Next time," she promised.

One of the young men elbowed Kane. "See, bro? She'll never agree to go out with you."

"Kohaku, wanna join us?" Akari offered.

"No, thank you," Haku said. "I'm expected at home."

"So polite!" the girl next to Akari whispered. "You never see boys like that around _here_."

The group split, one clump headed toward the mall; the others dispersed. Risuni appeared at Haku's side. "Did you see how _angry_ she looked when Chihiro said she wasn't going?" Risuni nodded toward the new girl.

Haku nodded slightly. He walked toward Chihiro. "Would you mind if I walked you home?" he asked quietly.

Chihiro's face turned bright red. She glanced at Risuni, standing behind Haku, who gave her a thumbs up. After a moment of silence that Haku didn't comprehend, Risuni walked up to them, eyebrows raised. "C'mon, Chihiro. Let's ditch this loser." She grabbed Chihiro's arm and started dragging her down the street.

"Don't call him that," Chihiro protested.

" _Do_ you want him to walk you home?" Risuni asked.

Chihiro shook her head.

"Well then." Risuni continued to pull Chihiro away. "See you later," she tossed at Haku.

Haku watched, flabbergasted, as they walked away.

* * *

Chihiro dreamt. _She was riding a dragon. They flew through the bright sunlight with the wind caressing her hair, and she could feel its scales beneath her fingers, warm and smooth, as she talked to it. Him. The dragon was a him. He shook out his green mane and his muscular body rumbled in laughter at what she had said. Her mouth moved, but she couldn't make out her words. She could only feel the pleasure and freedom of flight._

 _Then the sky grew dark. She was standing on the ground and the dragon was above her, flying fast. He rammed himself against an invisible wall in the sky, over and over, until he shook with pain and exhaustion. Stop! Chihiro cried to the dragon, You're hurt! Stop! but she made no sound, and could only watch helplessly as the dragon thrashed, its mane matted with blood and torn scales, and fell through the air. The dream drew her away; the white dragon shrank into a white dot, still falling, too far away for her to help. She thought she felt a broken thud as he hit the ground._

Chihiro woke with tears in her eyes and a sharp ache in her chest. "Stop," she whispered. But she couldn't remember who she was talking to or what she was trying to stop. A bad dream. It was only a bad dream. She slept.

* * *

"Do you have it?"

Haku produced a strand of hair - it was one of Chihiro's, he knew, though it was pale and had been stripped of its original color; it still smelled of her - and handed it to Zeniba. The sun was just rising over the swamp.

"Listen," Haku said. "I've been feeling these tremors just on the other side of the border. Have you heard anything?"

"What do you expect? The explosion at Onagawa has set everybody off."

"What do you mean?"

Zeniba raised her eyebrows at him as she fed the hair into the spindle. "I'm surprised the humans didn't mention it. It was in their news. The nuclear reactor at Onagawa had an incident. A child blocked one of the outflow pipes. It leaked quite a bit of material into the surrounding soil. Emigrants are flooding across the border." Her eyes narrowed. "It's not an accident. That's the second one this week. I'm sure _he_ had something to do with it. If only I had proof…"

The window opened again in the air, showing the messy room beyond. Two of the walls were taken up by two full bookshelves. The other two were plastered with posters of boy bands and actors. A large traditional Japanese bed heaped with furry plush animals took up most of the floor. Chihiro was bent over, scooping up the silk-bound copy of the Kojiki from next to her pillow. She turned and grabbed a leather bound journal from her desk, pushing aside tangled piles of jewelry, and slung her backpack over her shoulder. The window followed her into the kitchen and then out into the still-grey morning.

She walked toward the woods by the highway, where a familiar narrow track led her through the trees. The fog still hung like a heavy curtain over the branches. Little cinderblock shrines, built when the town was only a farming village, lined the track, and as she followed it, they could see stout statues peek out from between the gaps in the trees. The track ended in a small paved clearing with one of the statues standing in the middle, as if guarding the place. She sat down, leaning against the statue, and pulled out her breakfast and library books.

"She can't see the gate," Zeniba reminded Haku, seeing his surprise. "Remember, if Chihiro is ever to recover her memories of her time here, you must find the charm."

* * *

 _The white dragon swam through a dark, narrow cave. The weight of the water and rock above him was crushing, but it was still water, and it could not hurt him. The water fought him, pulling him backwards by his tail and mane. Still, he made headway and approached a small opening in the tunnel. The current was the strongest here. The dragon waited a moment, shoring up his energy, and then shot forward through the hole into a still lake. Everything was subtly different. He tasted the faint tang of metal and smoke in the air. The water had slightly too much nitrogen and was cloudy with algae._

 _Chihiro watched as the dragon rose out of the water into a strangely familiar woods. There was a shadow in the trees. The dragon sensed it, too. He cast his head around, searching, and locked in on a scent. He flew, skimming the ground, through the trees past squirrel-sized houses and stone guardians, to a clearing where a girl slept. The shadow stood over the girl's body. Chihiro saw the flash of metal in the shadowy figure's hand before the dragon slammed into the dark cloud and knocked it away._

 _The shadow swirled and solidified until it looked human, and the two rolled into the undergrowth. The shadow, now a black-haired girl, jumped away. She stabbed at the dragon's tail as it whipped toward her. The blade skittered off the scales with a loud screech, throwing sparks. It did no harm. The dragon was on her in a moment, picking her up easily in his mouth and throwing her with a twist of his head. Her body hit a tree and slid down to lie at the base of the tree._

" _Who sent you?" the dragon snarled. There was no answer. A moment later, the familiar face, with large, dark eyes and dark lips backlit by pale skin, dispersed into smoke._

 _The dragon stared at where the girl had been, and then turned back toward the clearing where the other girl slept, oblivious, and turned into a young man._

* * *

The wind pulled through Haku's mane as he stared at where the girl's body at been. _Kiyo, was it?_ The name seemed familiar now. _Kiyohime. One of his. Akuma knows where she is._ The thought loomed in Haku's mind. He turned to Chihiro and let the length of his dragon's body melt away. She had not been hurt, had not even woken. _Bespelled, perhaps._

She looked so innocent, wearing simple clothing and asleep against the guardian of the Gate with her books lying open around her. Her face was bare of makeup; her skin looked translucent with youth in the filtered sunlight. Her hair fluttered in the breeze. Her salty musky human scent lay delicately upon the smell of leaves breaking down on the forest floor. Haku's worse fears had been realized, but seeing her sleep peacefully like this, it was as if the danger had been simply a bad dream, and nothing more.

"Haku," she mumbled.

Haku started. Was she dreaming? His heart thudded painfully. He stared at her, unaware of the intensity of his gaze.

Chihiro opened her eyes and yelped; her back slipped from where it rested against the stone statue and crashed down among her books in a flurry of papers. "H-how long have you been standing there?" she asked, looking up at him. Their eyes met and her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

 _Chihiro, it's me. Do you remember me? She knows nothing of what happened?_ "You were talking in your sleep." Haku fought the urge to reach out and touch her, to gather her up in his arms, to squeeze her in relief. He forced himself to pretend, pretend that he didn't know her, pretend that he hadn't almost been too late.

"That's embarrassing.…What did I say?" she stammered. She seemed horrified, but unafraid.

"You called me. Haku. How did you know that my friends call me Haku?" _I wouldn't still be Haku if not for you. Do you understand? The name would've become a nightmare._ He crouched until they were at the same level, willing for her to understand.

She brushed herself off and sat upright. "My apologies, Kohaku-san. I didn't mean to be rude." She inclined her head to indicate an apologetic bow.

 _Please. Calling me Kohaku erases everything that happened._ He managed to keep from saying the words aloud. "You can call me Haku if you want to," he said. _Please._

"Haku…" Chihiro said slowly, tentatively, as if tasting the word on her tongue. "What are you doing out here?"

"Funny," he said. It wasn't funny at all. "I could ask you the same thing. I was looking for someone."

"Really? I've been coming here for years, and I never see anyone out here," Chihiro said.

"She's not from around here, but this is near where we last parted. I thought I might find her here again," Haku replied. He changed the topic. "You still haven't told me why you're out here all by yourself."

Chihiro gestured to where the Kojiki lay open among her notebook and pens on the cracked cobblestones. "It's quiet out here. I like it. No one bothers me here."

"Sorry to disturb your peace. I can leave now, if you'd like." He waited, watching. There was no danger in the woods now, but still he couldn't bring himself to take even a single step away.

Chihiro looked up at where the sun shone through the leaves. "I… should probably head home too. Are you just going back to town? Would you mind… if I walked with you?"

"I would like that," he said quietly.

Chihiro gathered her things and fell into step beside him. They started down the track together. "May I ask you something?" she said.

"Of course," Haku said.

"What was that song you were singing, at the library?" Chihiro blushed again when Haku looked at her.

"It's the poem you were reciting. _The Ballad of Ashitaka_." _It's his love song to the demon princess, one of the last songs in the epic._

"Written sometime in the thirteen or fourteen hundreds," Chihiro said when Haku offered no further information. "But… how do you know the tune? I've looked everywhere for a recording, and there's nothing."

Haku searched for an answer that he could give her. _Surely "Spirit World royalty are expected to know more historical literature than human teenagers" would count as bragging. And she would not believe "it was a popular song when I was growing up."_ "My father taught it to me," Haku said.

"Oh," Chihiro said. She paused awkwardly, then changed the subject. "So, um, tell me about this _friend_ ," she said. She smiled to cover up her embarrassment.

Haku looked at her, startled, but she wasn't even looking at him. Her gaze was directed into the trees. _What could she possibly mean?_ he thought. He could feel her body heat radiating beside him. Her scent permeated the air. Below the human musk was something very familiar that he couldn't place. It was distracting. "Um," he said. "What do you want to know?"

"I dunno," Chihiro said. "What's her name? What's she like? Do you _like_ her?" She grinned.

 _What do I say? What is safe to say?_

He paused long enough that Chihiro bowed and apologized for prying.

"No, no, it's okay," Haku said. He couldn't bear for her to be formal. "Her name was… Sen. It was a long time ago. I don't know what she's like now, but she was very kind and she helped me through a hard time." _Do you like her?_ the question echoed in his head. He didn't understand it. She had been his friend; of course he liked her, at least, he liked the girl that he remembered. But that didn't seem to be what Chihiro meant.

"When did you last see her?"

"Probably about seven years ago. Why do you ask?"

"Because this is such a small town that if I was living here at the time, I'm sure I would've seen the two of you around."

"Maybe you did. Do I look familiar?" She turned his face toward his, and the child's face he remembered so well shone out at him. _Please let me look familiar,_ he begged silently. _Please remember me._ Zeniba's words rang out in his mind. _She must not remember you._

Chihiro looked into his face, examining it more closely. She seemed to consider it. "Now that I think about it, maybe you do, a little bit," she said. "Your name seems familiar, too."

There had been no trace of recognition in her face, and no danger. She was being polite. Haku humored her, keeping disappointment and relief out of his voice. "That makes it a little less strange that you were calling out my name in your sleep."

Chihiro made a face, embarrassed. "Oh!" Chihiro stopped suddenly. "I was dreaming about you! Sorry, that's kind of creepy. But…I think…you were in my dream…" she frowned. "I don't remember what it was about… Sorry, I'm sorry, that sounds so weird," she mumbled, flushing.

 _She remembers!_ Haku reveled in the thought. Then he realized that she was waiting nervously for him to respond. "That's okay," he said. "Stranger things happen." _Like a dragon being saved by a human girl. But she dreams! The charm worked! There's some part of her that still remembers me, even if she's not conscious of it._

"Do I look familiar to you?" Chihiro asked.

"Definitely not when we first met," Haku said, thinking of the mannequin in the window, "but at the moment you do." _Of course you do. How could I forget you?_

"It's the makeup, isn't it?" Chihiro half-grinned. "I don't actually look that different from when I was ten. Taller, maybe." She was bantering now - familiar territory for her.

She did still have a boyish body, but Haku refused to answer her attempt at self-depreciation. "It's definitely the makeup," Haku said seriously. "Why do you wear it? You don't need it. It just covers you up. You're much prettier without it."

Chihiro blushed furiously and looked down at her feet, suddenly shy again. "It's kind of like a shield, I guess. Protection. What people say doesn't hurt because they're not talking about the real me. It makes me feel stronger."

"I see," Haku said. "It's not just your face, is it? It's your clothes, too. You're much nicer when no one else is around. And your hair looks different." He reached out and touched a strand of it. It was soft, just like he remembered.

Chihiro was speechless. It had been such an intimate gesture. "What about you?" she said a little defensively, when she found her voice again. "Your designer clothes, and your hair?" For like her, he was wearing worn jeans and a t-shirt, though his were tailored so well that they looked and moved like they were part of his body.

"You're not the only one who needs protection," he replied.

* * *

 _Who had he been looking for?_ Chihiro wondered. She tried to focus on the fact that he had clearly been looking for someone, someone who meant a lot to him, someone who wasn't her, but the other words he had said to her repeated themselves in her head.

 _You're much prettier without._ _You're much nicer when no one else is around. You can call me Haku if you want to._ _My friends call me Haku. Do I look familiar?_

He was so easy to talk to. He had forgiven her when she blabbed insensibly. He had pretended not to see her embarrassment. He had such a nice voice. And though she barely wanted to admit it to herself, she found him attractive. She wanted to see him again. _It probably won't go anywhere,_ Chihiro tried to convince herself. _Even if it could, we're about to leave for college. It's not worth it. The timing is terrible._ But she couldn't stop thinking about it. _Seven years ago. Have I seen him before? Do I know him?_

Seven years ago. Back then, her hair would've been in a ponytail. That was the biggest change. It'd been short ever since that one trip to the salon... She'd cried after it had been chopped off but everyone told her she looked so pretty with it short that she'd kept it. Before that...

She opened a secret compartment in her jewelry box and pulled out a worn purple hair tie. _This hair tie._ She sat on her bed, contemplating it. She had worn the hair tie every day when her hair had been long. She had kept it safe and well-hidden in her jewelry box ever since she stopped wearing it. _You're not the only one who needs protection_. Chihiro had kept the feeling that it was very important, but no longer knew why. Why had she protected this hair tie so carefully? _Come to think of it, I can't even remember where I got it._ Back when she wore it, she had never needed anything else. Her friends and parents always bought her hair-things, but they sat in a small drawer, still in their packaging, untouched.

Three short encounters, and he had her thinking about things she hadn't thought about in years.

Chihiro put a hand to her hair. Maybe it was time to grow it out again. Her mother's voice rang from the hallway, making her drop the hair tie in surprise.


	5. Chapter 4 - Fujisan

**Chapter 4 - Fujisan**

Haku was distracted. The air was buzzing with tension. One threat had already been taken care of. He couldn't dismiss the possibility of another. He dropped Chihiro off in front of her home without betraying his unease and headed back into the woods, where he wouldn't be seen, and towards the lake. There, he placed his hands into the water. The tremors were stronger there; they were amplified by the bowled sides of the lake. Haku closed his eyes, focusing in on the vibrations of the water on his skin.

The wavelets were coming from the northeast. The earth was restless.

Haku slipped into the water, following the current downstream into the bay. He could swim faster in his dragon form than any human could ever hope to, but he detested the necessity of it. Travelling in his physical form was like carrying heavy luggage: cumbersome _._ Dragons were not meant to swim _through_ water; they were meant to _be_ water.

Fish and small creatures exclaimed over his presence as he flashed past. _Their_ master never bothered them so, they complained, as they were caught in the drag and spun through the vortices left in the white dragon's wake. A curious sailfish swam alongside the strange visitor and inquired as to his reasons for being there. Haku didn't answer. He wasn't in the mood for conversation, and in any case, the sailfish was soon left behind.

He followed the eastern coastline, swimming far enough below the surface that he looked like a flash of sunlight on the water to any observant humans on boats.

The tremors came more frequently, sometimes so strongly that his teeth chattered from the force of it, but even when they backed away, they didn't disappear completely.

He felt a slow, powerful intelligence surround him, probing at him. _What brings you here, young one?_ the consciousness asked.

"Forgive me, Surugawan-sama," Haku said. "I don't mean to disturb you. I am looking for the source of the earth tremors."

 _You are Nihonkai's youngest?_

"Yes," Haku said.

 _My regards to your brother. Ask him to be patient. It is not time._

"My brother?" Haku asked. "What do you mean?" But the spirit of the bay had departed.

 _My brother,_ Haku mused. _Which one?_ Surugawan rarely visited the palace, choosing instead to stay in his bay. Haku had no idea which of the potential heirs he favored. Whatever Surugawan had meant, it wasn't good news. Neither of the Dragon King's older sons felt particularly benevolent toward their youngest brother, when they bothered to notice him at all.

The water turned cloudy and sulfurous up ahead and the source of the tremors shifted to the left. _I must be getting close,_ Haku thought. He followed the smell of sulfur and found where the sulfurous river flowed into the bay. He swam upstream, staying in the shadows and out of sight as much as possible.

He had the distinct feeling that he'd been here before. Thirty kilometers inland, he climbed out in the shade of a bridge. He walked onto the banks as if in a trance. The earth beneath his feet seemed to carry him forward. The fields and trees fell away to reveal squat buildings and people. He drew stares as he walked through the town - he had forgotten to change his appearance and his clothes were centuries outdated - but he didn't notice.

He walked until the edge of the town where the asphalt became dirt again and woods began. He looked up at the trees, but there was no friendly wave from their branches. There was no recognition from their leaves. The soil was dry. He had thought, perhaps, that if he returned everything would… that he could finally _heal._ But there was no response. Worse. It was as if a door had slammed in his face. The land had changed without him. It had forgotten him. He fell forward onto his hands and knees and shook uncontrollably, his tears falling onto the parched ground. He lost track of the time. A hand placed on his shoulder finally made him look up. It was a young man, maybe in his thirties.

The man held out a hand and pulled Haku to his feet. "I'm sorry," he said. "The townspeople told me they saw you walking this way. Can I ... help you?"

Haku took a shuddering breath. "I don't think that's possible," he managed to say.

"I'm sorry," the young man said again. "I know there's probably no comfort for you right now, but please, staying here won't do you any good. It'll be night soon. Please, come to my home. I don't know if you need food, or lodging…"

By this time, the young man had turned Haku back toward town. He ignored the incredulous looks of the townspeople and seemed unaware of Haku's strange appearance. He guided Haku past a squat wooden building to a smaller building behind it.

A young woman met them at the door and invited them into a sparse, traditionally furnished room. She left and reappeared with a tray of tea and joined them around the low table. "I'm sorry for your loss," the young woman said. "Please, you can stay here tonight. It's better not to be alone."

"I don't think you understand," Haku said quietly. The couple waited quietly as he gathered himself. "Did you live here, fifteen years ago?" Haku asked. "Even ten years ago?" His voice begged them to say yes, to _remember._

They looked at Haku and then at each other.

"I see," the woman whispered. "There was a river flowing through here, ten years ago. I'm sorry. We thought you were a family member of one of the suicides."

"Are you certain?" the man asked his wife. He turned to Haku as she nodded, and bowed deeply. "Kohakunushi-sama. We are honored, and sorry."

"How did you know?" Haku asked.

"We keep the old stories," the man said. "There are photographs of you from over a hundred years ago. We thought you had gone. I never expected to actually meet you." He hesitated, then added, "you look younger than you did, in the pictures."

* * *

Haku consented to stay with the young couple overnight, but refused to take up space in their house. As a white dragon, he coiled up under a tree in the backyard, hidden from the street. The couple hid their astonishment well that after years of hearing stories, there was now a real live dragon sleeping in their backyard.

Sometime past midnight, they woke to the sound of cawing and a loud flutter of wings as birds exploded into flight over the forest. They went out into the street, joining the rest of the town in staring, mouths gaping, out over the trees toward where the commotion had come from.

Haku hadn't been of the right mind to notice his surroundings properly when he walked into town the day before. He saw now for the first time the imposing sight of the familiar and perfectly symmetrical mountain that rose majestically over the forest. A thick plume of smoke rose from the tip of the cone.

Haku's first thought was: _What the hell is Fujisan doing?_ His second thought was: _So that's what Surugawan meant. Shit._

The young man looked around. His mysterious guest had disappeared, and a large white dragon was streaking through the sky toward the mountain.

* * *

 _The train rumbled under Chihiro as the light outside the window dimmed. Meadows and trees rushed past. Her friends slept on her lap but she sat stiffly, showing no sign of tiredness. Adrenaline and determination filled her – she couldn't afford to miss her stop. The sixth stop. For Haku._

 _Chihiro felt something old and rusty in the water streaming down her face. It was so familiar. She pulled at it. A bicycle? The water shot up into the air and all around her people exclaimed over the pieces of gold left behind. She looked down at the green sphere in her hands and smiled._

 _Haku! He's going to take me to my parents. He pulled her along by the hand and they ran through fruit trees and down the hill to a pigpen. "You must never come here without me, understand?" he said._

 _And Haku held her while she cried because she was lost and she didn't know what to do. He was telling her she should eat, it would make her feel better. "It'll be alright." She would be alright._

 _She was standing at a window and there was Haku again, this time older, standing with his back to her under the tree on her school grounds. He turned to face her. Even though he was too far away to hear, she could tell what he was saying to her. "Don't you remember?" he said._

Chihiro woke up. There was a train, and a pigpen...and a blur. The vision had been so vivid and filled with hope that she woke up clutching at scraps of color and feeling like her heart would burst, but the pieces slipped away like water in her hands. A voice echoed softly in her head from the last scene. _Don't you remember?_ There was sadness in that voice.

She buried her face in her pillow in frustration. Her fingers brushed something lying under the pillow.

The hair tie.

* * *

Across the bay, the sun rose over two wooden shrines standing nestled in the mountains. There once was a proper stone courtyard and promenade, but all that was left was cracked rock and gravel interspersed with weeds. The red tiled roofs had long since been faded by rain and sun to a warm brown. The larger of the two shrines had a sliding door worn smooth from use that opened to a life-sized statue of an old man and a dragon - the figure of Tenryukawa no Kami. The figure was carved from marble but for the irises, which were spheres of clouded green jade. A raised pot of incense released fragrant smoke before the figure. The other shrine had three walls supporting a sagging roof and held a large forest bonsai, and that was all. An old man moved slowly about the courtyard. He would need a cane soon, but he preferred to have to use of both hands when serving the kami. He was the priest of the village, and the keeper of the shrine.

As on any other morning, he greeted the stone figure of the kami with a "good morning" as he entered the larger shrine. A young woman, one of his many granddaughters, came in behind him, sweeping away the dust that had accumulated in the night. She wore the red and white miko robe – an indication that she was a servant of the kami.

On this particular morning, however, the statue spoke back.

"Good morning, child."

The girl yelped – the stone figure had always been just stone to her – but the old man smiled. He had reacted just that way the first time the kami had spoken to him.

"Kami, I'm afraid you've once again forgotten that the years pass faster for us humans. I'm not the child I was when we last met. In fact," he chuckled. "I am quite the old man."

The statue seemed to blink. "Ah yes, old friend. You are correct. No matter. You look well."

"With your blessing, Kami. What brings you here today?"

"The war is at a head. Both the bridges and the barrier are destabilizing. Yauxal's village has been attacked." The statue's jade eyes flashed in anger. "The forest has been set aflame. The reservation has been evacuated."

"What can we do, Tenryu-sama?" the old man asked.

"Stay safe," the statue of Tenryu ordered. "If anything unusual happens, send Shika for me. As far as we can tell, _he_ has no idea this place exists. We must keep it that way. With the coronation approaching, Prince Fujisan is not willing to grant us a meeting with King Nihonkai. He cites Kauwaso's death and the recent disaster at Onagawa. We suspect Akuma's involvement in both cases, but haven't been able to prove anything. Prince Tateyama only wakes from dormancy to kiss Fujisan's bootheels, and Prince Kohakunushi is unwilling to get involved. Both Prince Fujisan and Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi have recently left the palace. The guards know nothing of where they have gone. There is little chance we'll be able to receive an audience with the King and convince him to stabilize the bridges before they collapse. We shall need the families, and we still need a human representative."

It was too much for the old man to wrap his head around at once. "Prince Kohakunushi?" the shrine-keeper said. "He's found?"

"Yes," the statue said. "Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi was disoriented and reverted to a younger form. He became Yubaba's apprentice, hiding in plain sight. No one thought to look for him there.

"Then, seven of your years ago, a human girl appeared in Aburaya. She'll be about Risuni's age by now." The statue smiled indulgently, then continued, more seriously. "The girl restored the prince's memories. The prince has returned to court. However, he insinuates that something else has changed, but gives no details beyond not wanting to inherit the throne. At this moment, Princes Fujisan and Tateyama will not accept the idea of Prince Kohakunushi ascending the throne, no matter that many supported him before his disappearance. It being the year of the coronation, the Nihonkai has little autonomy, and in any case refuses to exert his power or even express any hint of an opinion beyond spending more time with his youngest son than is usual."

"This girl, you have her in mind as the one to bind the worlds together?" the old man asked.

"Yes," the statue said. "She has shown during her time at Aburaya that she is neither greedy nor cruel. She befriended the lost Prince and captured many hearts, including my own, and that of the witch twins of your blood. She revealed that Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi had lost his memories when the river was destroyed, at great risk to herself."

"And she is willing?" the old shrinekeeper asked.

"She has disappeared. When she passed through the barrier and returned to the human world, she lost her memories of her time here. I believe that Prince Kohakunushi has gone to the human world to find the girl."

"Unfortunately, he is aware that if she ever returns, there is no doubt that our enemy will attempt to capture or kill her to keep her out of our hands as soon as we mark her as the one we need. As such, I understand that he is extremely reluctant for her to be involved in the war. However, neither is she safe in the human world. _He_ is gaining power readily there as well. It would not take much to exert that power. The destruction of Yauxal's village shows that at the very least his servants are hard at work for him here."

"Our enemy?" the miko asked in a hushed voice. She felt the jade eyes turn to her and shivered.

"Think back on your legends," the old man scolded. "You should not still be so ignorant this far in your training."

"Educate your children another time," the marble figure said. "We need to find Prince Kohakunushi and the girl he is searching for. He will be extremely visible in the human world and _he_ will not stay ignorant for long. Be careful. The barrier may be weakening, but the spell is stronger than ever. Your blood may not be able to protect you. Entering the spirit world should not be a problem, but if you need to cross in the human direction for any reason, you know what to do."

* * *

Haku landed on the lip of the volcano's mouth and turned into his human shape. Thick ash filled the air, making him cough. He peered over the edge, his hair and clothes flapping from the violent updraft of hot air rising from the crater below. The lava within was bubbling, and too close for comfort. Despite the heat, he shuddered. He had never been so close to a volcano before in his flesh and blood body. How uncomfortable it must be to be mortal! He had heard that Fujisan had been fond of him, before. It was time to see if, against all evidence Haku had seen, any of that affection remained.

"Fujisan!" he shouted into the caldera. "What are you doing? There are humans living in the town below!"

Nothing happened.

"I know you're in there," Haku shouted again. "Show yourself!"

A red dragon rose out of the lava, an enormous serpent as wide as Haku was tall. It turned its head toward Haku and opened it's mouth, showing flames in the back of its throat. Haku flinched. "Show some _respect_ , little brother. Have care for how you speak to me," it growled. "The humans deserve what is coming. They brought this on themselves."

"Then what about Jukai? Even if you don't care about humans. You'll kill her!" Haku yelled back.

"You know nothing of Jukai!" Fujisan thundered. "If you remember anything of her, you would never defend the monsters who did this to her. The humans are an abomination. Get off my mountain."

"No!" Haku said. "You must stop!"

The dragon burst into drops of lava and hot stone, knocking Haku back hundreds of yards and into a boulder. The rock split with a loud _crack_ and a plume of dust. Shards of volcanic glass flew through the air. One of them caught his cheek and sliced through to the bone. Haku shook his head to clear it.

"I warned you not to support rebellion," the mountain rumbled. "Take this as your final warning. Choose your allies wisely, little brother. I wouldn't defend the ones who trapped you in that form, if I were you. You'll find yourself with powerful enemies. They might even hurt you." Haku looked up. Molten rock, shining brighter than he could bear with heat, was slowly welling up over the ridge of the crater. It seemed to pause at the top, as if deliberating whether or not to sweep away the town below, before it began to roll down the other side. The heat washed over him like a wave.

Haku stared at the advancing lava, mesmerized. Then something hit him. A bird had flown into him in its hurry to get away. Haku scrambled to his feet and leapt into the sky.


	6. Chapter 5 - Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter 5: Down the Rabbit Hole**

Haku scanned the ground below frantically. He had flown back straight, not caring that he might be seen by those along the way. It was still early, the sky just brightening. The humans weren't awake yet. It was quiet. Too quiet. The birds knew. And there she was, walking out of her house. Haku dove down in between two houses, careful to keep out of her sight, and transformed quickly. Still, he took the time to go over his appearance with more care than he had the day before. He couldn't afford a mistake now. His ears were ringing with tension. _Fujisan had just as much as said he was…_ Haku pushed the thought away and ran out from the alley into the street. She was nowhere to be seen.

Haku took a deep breath, sorting through the scents that lingered in the air, and found hers easily. He followed it at a run, turning down a street just in time to see her opening the door to walk into a house at the end of the street. With the door open, he could just hear a woman's voice coming from within the house out into the quiet morning.

"Chihiro?" the voice was saying. "Risuni has a friend named Chihiro. She spends a lot of time here. In fact, she just walked in."

There was a pause.

"She's about Risuni's age. They're both headed off to college soon." Pause. "What? Kohaku is _here_?"

The door swung closed. Haku cursed the limitations of his physical form, and ran faster. He would need to find out who they were, and what they knew, but for now he kept the questions out of his mind. He needed to focus on more pressing matters. It felt like forever, but in fact less than a minute passed before he reached the house and pulled the door open to see Chihiro and her long-haired friend, as well as the older woman who must be the owner of the voice, staring at him. She was still holding the receiver of the phone.

His gaze skipped from one stunned expression to another. "Everyone get outside. Now," he ordered. "There's an earthquake coming." A part of him registered that the small television in the back of the living room showed dark plumes of ash rising from the familiar cone-shaped mountain.

They didn't waste time questioning how he knew or where he had come from, only ran out of the house after him, for which he was grateful. As soon as the last person had left the shadow of the eaves, a shockwave threw them all to the ground. A window shattered. The house creaked menacingly. They heard crashing sounds from behind them. The asphalt on the street cracked as they watched, throwing up clouds of dust.

Chihiro scrambled to her feet.

"Chihiro," Haku called. "Wait!" Another wave pulled the ground from beneath her and she stumbled, scraping her knee, but then she was up again.

"I've got to make sure my parents are okay!" she called back.

The metallic tinge of her blood mixed with the bitter scent of fear already in the air. "Damn it, Fujisan," Haku muttered as the ground continued to shake violently. "Damn you," he said, louder, then picked himself up and ran after Chihiro. _Now is not the time to lose track of her,_ he told himself. No one noticed that his feet didn't always touch the ground.

The ground rumbled again just as they reached the Ogino residence. Glass rained down from the second floor. Haku reached out and grabbed Chihiro's arm as she fell, trembling legs barely holding her weight. "Be careful!" Haku said.

"Thanks," she gasped, fighting for breath. "Mom! Dad! Are you okay?" she yelled, as she fumbled with her cellphone. "Mom!" No one answered the phone. "Dad!" She pulled open the front door. "Are you guys in here?"

"Chihiro!" Akio Ogino ran down the block toward them. There was dirt smeared on his palms and his clothes. "Thank goodness."

"Dad! Where's Mom?"

"She was home…"

Akio led the way into the house. They picked their way through broken glass and fallen furniture strewn haphazardly on the floor.

 _This isn't safe,_ Haku thought. _The house could collapse at any moment._ "Chihiro," Haku said tensely, but she wasn't listening. She had heard a low moan coming from upstairs. Chihiro and her father ran up the stairs toward the sound. Haku followed reluctantly. Yuuki lay on the floor, pinned by a fallen bookshelf.

"Haku!" Chihiro called. "Come help!" Together they lifted the bookshelf off of Yuuki Ogino.

"Chihiro," Haku said again, but she still didn't respond. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath. He could feel the small tremors that he knew was the magma stirring below the surface. The earth was awake. _I need to get her out of here._

"Mom. Mom!" Chihiro shook Yuuki by the shoulder. "Wake up!" Yuuki stirred. "Thank the kami," Chihiro sighed.

"Chihiro," Haku said insistently, as a siren began to sound outside.

"Wait," she said. She tried to stack the scattered books back on the shelf.

"Chihiro!" Haku grabbed her shoulder.

"What?" she demanded.

"Mount Fuji is erupting."

After that, everything seemed to happen at once. Akio carried Yuuki downstairs and outside to where Risuni and her parents were waiting; her leg had broken when the bookshelf fell on her, but it was a clean break, and nothing else had been hurt. Risuni called the emergency number and in no time at all a helicopter came to take Yuuki to Sapporo Hospital, which would not be affected by the eruption. The pilot would only let one person accompany Yuuki, so Akio, after thanking Haku profusely for all his help, boarded the helicopter.

Chihiro watched as the helicopter rose up and out of sight, and then looked around at her companions. "Now what?" she said.

Risuni's mother patted her on the back reassuringly. "Now you come with us, of course," she said. Chihiro nodded and ran into the house.

Haku felt like an outsider. The last time Chihiro had lost her parents, she had turned to him. Now she had others to depend on. She no longer needed him. He turned to look at Risuni's family. Her parents bowed to him.

"You know who I am?" Haku asked. _I thought the legends had all but died out, and yet this is the second family to recognize me._

"Yes," Risuni's mother said. "I am Suzume of the Shinkono family; my husband is Tasuo. Our family guards the bloodline in this part of the world."

This startled Haku. This was Tenryu's clan. _What are they doing all the way out here?_ They would surely understand. They _knew_ the war.

"We heard that you'd disappeared," Risuni added.

"Yes, Chihiro was the one who found me. However, her memories have been erased by the Gate. She cannot stay here. I have attracted too much attention to this place by being here."

The human family nodded, understanding the need for caution. "We already had plans in place for evacuation, made when the tremors started," Tasuo Shinkono said, "but they involve going through the Gate."

"You are able to pass through the barrier back into the Human World without side effects?" Haku asked.

"Our cousin Shika will meet us and help us cross," Suzume said. "He is able to…" but Haku was already nodding.

"Yes, that will likely be the safest way," he said.

* * *

Chihiro went upstairs and got her backpack, stuffing into it a few changes of clothes and her toothbrush. She put her phone and wallet in the inner pockets, and still there was room in the bag. She looked around the room, at the stuffed animals piled on her bed, at the posters of boy bands plastered on the walls, at piles of jewelry and makeup, and her gaze settled on the stack of books on her desk. She still hadn't managed to finish reading that story, and maybe now wasn't the time to think about it, but… oh well. She slipped her diary and the library's copy of the Kojiki in next to the clothes.

She met the others outside where they were waiting, and they walked back to the Shinkonos' in silence. The house was a mess. Tiles had fallen off the roof and smashed, and the pavement had cracked everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Shinkono ducked inside to retrieve their papers and a few necessities, leaving the young people waiting outside.

Chihiro looked at her companions. Haku's cheek was bleeding, but he didn't seem to be aware of it. He was staring off into the distance. His presence confused her, _where is his family?_ but she felt too shell-shocked to speak. Instead, she pulled a packet of tissues from her pocket and dabbed at his face where the cut was.

He looked at her, startled. His expression surprised her. There was longing there, and determination, and _what could he be thinking?_ It sparked some recognition within her, a kind of déjà vu. She considered asking him where his parents were.

Before she could ask, Risuni's parents emerged from the house. But then instead of getting into the car, Mr. and Mrs. Shinkono led them down the track into the forest below the highway where Haku had found Chihiro just the other day. _Yesterday, in fact._

Chihiro looked at Risuni. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Risuni smiled back. "Remember that friend back home I told you about?" she said. "The one who's like a brother to me? We're going to meet him."

Chihiro _did_ remember. Risuni had mentioned that Haku was too similar to this friend who was like a brother to be attractive, no matter how hot he was. _But what did that have to do with anything?!_ She did not have the patience to solve whatever riddles Risuni had in mind. "Don't do this to me right now," Chihiro said. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?" She took a deep breath and bit her lip, trying to keep the reins on her temper. "Sorry. It's been a long day."

A hand, large and warm and gentle, suddenly slipped around hers, silently asking her to stay calm. She bit back the urge to fling it away from her and scream, and looked up. It was Haku. There was concern in his eyes and behind that Chihiro saw the sadness that always seemed to be there, and it reminded her of… something. "What's going on?" she asked tiredly. They had reached the clearing with the squat stone statue, who stood there, grinning widely as usual. A breeze had picked up. She could feel a headache coming on. She closed her eyes to try to stave it off.

"Chihiro," Haku said, drawing her gaze to him again. "You're going to be fine. Don't worry. We need to get out of here. This is going to be a bit strange, but we need you to close your eyes. Please trust me. We don't have time right now, but I promise, I will explain everything."

Chihiro saw that everyone was looking at her, and that Risuni's parents were smiling at her encouragingly as if nothing strange was going on, and decided that it was unlikely that all of them were crazy. Chihiro suddenly felt that she had fallen in way over her head. Her heart pounded in her ears and her veins buzzed as if with electricity - _something_ was beginning.

"I don't know why," Chihiro said, looking at Haku, "but I _do_ trust you. But who _are_ you, really? And where are we going?"

"My full name is Nigihayami Kohakunushi," Haku said quietly. "I'm the youngest son of the Japan Sea. We're going to cross into the Spirit World."

It was a ridiculous statement, but she found that she could not argue. So she nodded, and closed her eyes, and let Risuni and Haku each take hold of one of her arms and lead her into cool darkness.


	7. Chapter 6 - The Noble and the Savage

**Part 2: When I Decided**

 _When I decided to believe and go forward,_

 _The door opened, and those lights came shining on me._

 _Let's flap these wings beneath the blue sky,_

 _These linked hands will never be separated._

 _Reprise l. 5-8_

 **Chapter 6: The Noble and the Savage**

Haku and Risuni followed the adults through the archway, guiding Chihiro together by the arms. Chihiro's skin felt warm on Haku's hand. Her arm felt so fragile, her bones so thin and delicate, her pulse beneath his fingertips quick like a frightened rabbit's, as they walked in the shade of the tunnel. Her elbow was tensed, as if she would run away at any moment. But she didn't. Her timid steps gradually relaxed as she began to trust them to lead her safely through the darkness. Their feet slapped against the stone floor and the sound echoed hollowly in the tunnel around them.

"Where are we?" Chihiro asked, bewildered. "It doesn't sound like the forest anymore. It sounds like…" a low whistle sounded in the distance, "a train station?"

"Not exactly," Haku said. He felt the spell on the Gate awaken to probe them, and then slowly fade away. It could not stop them. _She doesn't deserve this!_ Haku thought. _But Fujisan had to go and..._

Chihiro hissed in pain and Haku loosened his grip on her arm, worried. "Sorry," he said. "I was just thinking…"

"It's not you," she said softly. "It's just that, my head hurts. Is something wrong?"

"No," Haku said, then laughed quietly to himself at the obvious lie. _Her head hurts just hearing the train echo through the tunnel, even with the charmed hairtie around her wrist. Is the charm not working? She can't possibly stay in the Spirit World for long. It's too risky. We can't let her remember._ And then he thought, sadly, that she might never remember him the way he remembered her. _It doesn't matter,_ he told himself firmly.

"It's called the Waiting Room," Risuni said, startling him. "We are in the gateway between the Human World and the Spirit World. There's a ferry on the other side that takes travellers to the nearest town, and every night, they wait here for the ferry."

"But how did we get here from the clearing?" Chihiro asked. "There's nothing there, I go there all the time…"

Haku and Risuni looked at each other, struggling for an explanation.

"It's not always visible," Risuni tried. "It's like… remember the parallel worlds from physics?"

Chihiro's face scrunched up in confusion, but she didn't open her eyes.

Haku squeezed Chihiro's arm gently, trying to reassure her. _Well. I promised to explain things to her. Where shall I begin?_ "Let me tell you a story," he said.

As he began, his voice took on the intonation of a chant, and he felt Chihiro's arm relax. It was a ritual she knew, and it brought an element of familiarity to what must have been a very strange place.

"In the beginning," he said, using magic to pull images into Chihiro's mind, "after the first six divine generations retreated from the surface of the earth into the high plain of heaven, the seventh divine generation created Kuniumi, the islands of Japan. At that time, the worlds were one, and the humans and spirits lived in harmony. Mountains rose and rivers were born. The humans worshiped the spirits of the wind, the water, and the earth as kami, or gods, and were looked upon with favor. These kami were the guardians and protectors of the people, and were well loved.

"The greatest of these kami was Amaterasu, goddess of the Sun. She fell in love with the first of the dragons, whom the gods made the souls of the oceans of water and oceans of fire, and he created a great palace for her at the western border of the Great Sea. There, Amaterasu gave birth to the Emperors of Japan. This is why Kuniumi has always been called the Land of the Rising Sun.

"Amaterasu loved the humans. She loved their capacity to love. Her children ruled over Japan wisely for many generations, with her blessing. The people prospered. They had enough to set aside for times of famine, and life was long and full.

" Then, Amaterasu's brother Tsukiyomi, the moon god, grew jealous of how much the humans loved her. They rejoiced to see her face and produced good things under her care but turned their backs on him, and his anger grew.

"After Amaterasu banished Tsukuyomi for killing Ukemochi, Tsukuyomi had a son - Akuma. From the moment he was born, Akuma was afraid of the dark. He resented Amaterasu for taking away the light. He decided to give the darkness that she forced on him to her beloved humans - darkness in the form of selfishness. The people became discontent. Their wants grew greater than their needs. Desire for riches overcame the love for their homelands, so people moved away from their beloved kami and crowded together in the concrete jungles. As they left, they forgot their pasts. As they traveled through the generations, they left their stories behind in the hearts of their ancestors. They mocked the idea of petitioning the kami, for the kami could not give them what their greed desired. They left their lands desolate for their presence and their gods forlorn. The kami are the rivers, the mountains, the winds, the rice paddies, and without the humans' love, they had no life, for love and life are one and the same. With inattention and scorn, the humans banished the spirits. The world split in two like a heart separated from its beloved, the spirits on one side, the humans on the other, connected by a few splinters of pathways.

"The humans desired more and more wealth, but could not be satisfied by it. They began to hunt and kill the gods in order to take their lands and treasures for themselves, forgetting that once we let humans live on our land with our blessings. The hunted kami fled, one by one, to the Spirit World. Many died. The worlds sundered further and further, and mourned.

"Gradually, spirits grew to fear humans. They feared that the hunters would pursue them across the border along these pathways where the worlds were still connected. A barrier was built across the paths to separate the worlds even further. Gates were set in the barrier and spelled them to ensure that any human who crossed into Spirit World would never be able to find the way again. And as more and more humans forget that they used to live among spirits, it becomes harder to remember the old stories. Certain families around the world, ones that generations ago had interbred with spirits, took it upon themselves to keep the traditions alive, to guard the shrines and the knowledge of the kami. The worlds are connected by knowledge and love, and so by loving the land and keeping the old traditions, the families kept the worlds connected.

"Thus begins the history of the Rift War, named Amaterasu's Sorrow. It is here in the telling that the story as written in the Kojiki ends, because the rest of the story has yet to be played out. Today, another chapter in the story begins. Today, Mount Fuji cried in despair as its spirit, Prince Fujisan, abandoned it."

After a long while, Chihiro spoke. The world Haku had painted with his words was still bright behind her closed eyelids. "Haku. I mean, Nigihaya…"

"Haku," Haku said quietly. "Just call me… Haku."

"Haku, then," Chihiro said. She was silent for a time. Then she said, "You're telling me that this is all… real."

"Yes," Haku said.

"And right now, we're in one of these... these... pathways bridging the worlds."

"Yes, Chihiro."

"And you're a spirit. You're not human." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Haku said again.

"Is this a dream? Am I going crazy?" she asked quietly. She shuddered, and then continued, slightly hysterically, "you actually want me to believe that, that the world is filled with dragons, and trolls under bridges, and… and ghosts?" Haku touched her shoulder, wanting to reassure her, to calm her down. She stiffened at his touch, but she didn't pull her arm from his hand.

"Chihiro," Risuni admonished. "You collect folk tales. You obsess over them. As long as I've known you, you've loved them."

"But they're just stories!" Chihiro exclaimed. Her words bounced back to them from the walls of the tunnel. Even though she protested, Chihiro could feel something in Risuni's words stirring inside her. Risuni squeezed her hand, steadying her.

"You say that because you've been hearing it for years, from our teachers and from the kids at school, and from your parents," Risuni said. "But you don't really believe that. I know it's probably a big shock, but like it or not, you're part of the story now."

Haku gritted his teeth. Risuni was likely right, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Chihiro took a deep breath and gripped her friend's hand harder, as if it could anchor her to reality. "If I'm being honest," Chihiro said, "no, it's not. A shock, I mean." She sighed. "You're in this tale, too?" she said. "You never mentioned it."

Risuni nodded, then realized that Chihiro couldn't see her. "Yes," she said. "There is spirit blood in my family. And are you so surprised I didn't mention it? I didn't think you would believe me. But I didn't know that Haku was the Prince until today, when my grandfather called."

Haku made a face. He didn't like the direction that the conversation was taking. But Chihiro had a thoughtful look on her face, and did not choose to follow up on Risuni's words.

"That river spirit you have a shrine to in your house," she said. "He's real, then? A kami? Are all kami dragons?"

"Tenryu, you mean? Yeah, he's real, he's the one who told Grandfather about Haku," Risuni tried to say, but she was interrupted by Chihiro pulling her arms away from her guides to press her palms against her pounding head. She sank down into a crouch, curling herself into a ball.

"Chihiro?" Risuni's said worriedly, bending down next to her. Her parents, who had been walking in front, turned around at the sound. Mrs. Shinkono walked back toward them, looking concerned.

"Chihiro, think about something else, and it won't hurt anymore," Haku said.

Chihiro only buried her head deeper between her knees and hugged her legs to her. Haku looked at her helplessly. He was afraid to touch her for fear it would trigger her memories even further.

Suzume began to sing, and after a line, Risuni and her father joined in. It was a rhythmic song, a song about mountains and rivers and the people living in them. And as they sang, Chihiro relaxed. Suzume motioned for Haku to pick Chihiro up, one arm below her knees and one supporting her back, and placed her arms around his neck. Her skin was burning hot.

"Don't open your eyes yet," she whispered to Chihiro, "we're almost there," before she picked up the song again.

They walked on, Haku carrying Chihiro in his arms. Suzume stomped out the rhythm during the chorus as if she could stomp the thoughts from Chihiro's mind; the echoes of the dance filled the hollow space of the waiting room.

"What's wrong with me?" Chihiro asked softly. "My head hurt before, too, during the first earthquake, when I looked at the statue in the shrine."

"Does it hurt now?" Haku asked, speaking quietly through the song. Her face was so close to his. He felt her warmth in his arms and against his chest, and from her arms around his neck.

"No," Chihiro said slowly. "But I've forgotten what the statue looks like, and I don't remember its name. Even though I remember how it feels in my hands. Even though I looked it up when I got home. The Toi gold mine. Even though Risuni just said it! The river runs just north of here." She sounded scared.

"There's nothing wrong with _you_ , Chihiro," Haku said. "There's a spell on you. A spell of forgetting.

"I wish I could tell you your story, because you need to know it. You deserve to know it. But even if I told you, it wouldn't be real to you, because it wouldn't be you remembering. It would just be another story that happened to someone else. And it might hurt you." He paused for a moment, thinking.

"Here's what I _can_ tell you," he said. "Seven years ago, you and your parents stumbled into the Spirit World. You were trapped there for only a few weeks, but during that time you made many friends. One of them gave you the purple hairtie that you're wearing around your wrist. She was very wise, and foresaw the need, so put a protective charm on that hairtie.

"When you left, you passed through one of the World Gates. This one, in fact. The Gate is spelled to remove the memories of a human's time in the Spirit World, and to ensure that the human never enters the Spirit World again. That's why you can't see the Gate. Without a guide, you would never find the entrance. It would have erased your memories the way it did with your parents, but for the protective charm. To protect your memories, the charm turned them into dreams that the spell won't let you remember. Your head hurt because seeing the statue was triggering your memories, and the spell wants you to forget them."

All at once, Chihiro felt the sun on her face and darkness behind her. From the darkness, wind blew. Before her, there was the sound of grass rustling. "You can open your eyes now," Haku said, and set her down.

She opened her eyes. She could see the beginnings of a vast, green plain, but not much else. A mist hung around them like a curtain, obscuring the view in every direction. The Shinkonos stood a little off to the side, staring into the mist. "Have I been here before?" Chihiro asked.

Haku was taken aback. "Does it look familiar?" he said, worried. "Does your head hurt?"

"No…" Chihiro said, hesitant. "No, it doesn't." She couldn't remember - there were no features to the plain that she could see, but sound of the wind made tears well up in her eyes. She expected to hear a faint cry of pain in the distance. The feeling faded before she could place it.

Haku shook his head. "The view here should be different enough that it shouldn't trigger any of your memories. If it did, the spell on the Gate would activate."

"I have been here before, then."

"Yes," he said. Risuni put her arm around Chihiro sympathetically.

"Look," Risuni said, and pointed to a shape moving within the mist. "It's Shika," she said. The shadow grew larger much more quickly than Chihiro thought possible.

 _Shika…a deer?_ She thought. The deer emerged from the mist just meters from where they stood. Before Chihiro could blink, Risuni had run up to it and was hugging its neck. Shika, if that was its name, licked her face in affection, making Risuni laugh. Risuni's parents bowed formally in greeting, but Shika walked up to Suzume until they were eye to eye, and placed its head on her shoulder. Suzume laughed and hugged it just as Risuni had, and even kissed it lovingly on the cheek.

"Chihiro," Risuni said. "This is my cousin, Shika." She laughed as Chihiro boggled. "My _very_ distantly related cousin. Shika, this is my best friend, Chihiro."

The deer raised itself onto its hind legs and became a lean, dark-skinned young man, about their age, in a straw hat, frayed, threadbare pants, and a tattered green vest that showed off his wiry, muscular limbs. Standing next to the pale, always immaculate Kohaku, he looked like the pauper to Kohaku's prince. He bowed to Chihiro, sweeping off his hat and revealing a top-knot. "My lady." He then bowed to Haku. "My prince," he said. "Allow me to escort you into the hinterlands."

To Chihiro's amazement, Haku laughed. "Your poor parents! You are a _sight_ to behold," he said.

Shika smiled. "I feel sorrier for you," he said, "having to spend all that time listening to them bemoan my fate at court." Then Shika looked around at them all. "Ready to go home?" he asked.

Risuni smiled widely at Chihiro. "We're going to stay with my grandparents. Don't worry. You'll love it there."

The six of them clasped hands and walked into the thick fog. Chihiro found herself deprived of her sight for the second time that day as the whiteness closed in around them.

* * *

 **A/N The next few chapters might be a bit slow in coming out. I've been busy and I'm falling a little behind :(**


	8. Chapter 7 - Stakes

**Chapter 7: Stakes**

Fifteen minutes later, they emerged from the white shroud into rocky mountains and pine forest. Far below, toy-sized people bent over rice paddies.

"Oniisannn!" A child's voice came from the outcropping before them. "Oniisan...where are you? I know I haven't come to see you and I'm sorry. Please come out? Oniisan!"

"Ryoshi, I'm here." Shika said calmly. "Shush, little one."

The boy's head popped up over the edge of the cliff. He was frowning as he pulled himself up. "Shika-oniisan! I'm Kojika, not Ryoshi," he whined. "Why do you keep forgetting?"

"I don't forget, little one. You'll just always be Ryoshi to me," Shika replied. The boy ran to Shika and clung to his leg. He barely came up to the deer spirit's waist.

Chihiro stared at the sight of his bright red cheeks and grubby little hands and feet. He couldn't have been more than five years old. She looked down over the edge of the rock and grabbed Risuni to keep from feeling like she would fall over the edge. A landslide had created the pile of rocks that the boy had climbed up; solid ground was at least twenty feet below. "Should he be climbing up here all by himself?" she whispered to Risuni.

"His parents know he's up here," Risuni replied.

"They're okay with it? But isn't it dangerous?" Chihiro said.

"The whole village grows up this way," Risuni said, smiling. "I did. Look, I still have all of my limbs. Don't worry." She turned to the boy. "Ryoshi!" she called. The boy looked around Shika's legs at them all.

"Cousin Risuni!" He ran over and she picked him up into a hug and swung him around. "Not you, too," he said.

"Alright, Koji," she laughed. "You've grown so big!"

"Hi, Uncle and Auntie," he said, still in Risuni's arms, and then stuck a dirty hand into his mouth.

"Kojika," Suzume said in mock despair, "aren't you getting too old to be eating your fingers?" He shook his head, and his hand slipped out of his mouth.

"Mommy says it'll make me sick, but the doctor told me that it's okay to eat dirt sometimes," he said, and stuck his hand right back in.

"Your Uncle and I need to stop by the shrine and see Grandfather. Will you take Risuni and her friends down to the village for us?" Suzume asked, smiling.

"Sure!" he said, grinning. He wriggled out of the Risuni's arms, and ran down the path gleefully. The adults followed, more slowly. The path was rock covered in a thin layer of pine needles, steep and winding. Chihiro minced along with tiny steps until Risuni taught her the trick of bouncing slightly, tamping down the loose pine needles with each step.

After some time Kojika complained that he was tired and asked to be carried. Shika sighed and bent down, motioning for the little boy to get on his back, which Koji did with enthusiasm. He chattered happily, pointing out birds and fox dens along the way, and telling them all about the chicks that were hatching at home and how Mommy was going to let him keep one. At a paved courtyard with two shrines, Risuni's parents waved and split off from the group to walk into the larger shrine at the center of the courtyard. Chihiro caught a glimpse of a statue beyond the darkened doorway before the headache she was starting to recognize started coming back.

As they walked back down the mountain to the village, Chihiro wondered aloud about the neglected, smaller shrine to the side. By this point, Koji had fallen asleep. Shika grimaced.

"It's Shika's," Risuni explained. "We built it for him when he was born. It's traditional. But Shika would rather run around the mountain and befriend the children of the village than be worshipped in a shrine like a 'proper' spirit," she teased.

"It makes me feel old," Shika said, adjusting the position of the sleeping boy he was piggy-backing. "It's much more interesting to do Tenryu's dirty work." _Tenryu,_ Chihiro thought, feeling a slight twinge of now familiar pain. _I have to try to remember._

Chihiro was more curious about something else. "Spirits are born?" she asked.

"Born, created, come into being. It's complicated. You humans come together, you mate, have babies. Simple," Shika said. Risuni rolled her eyes. "It can take any number of spirits to create a mountain, a forest, or a river, and there's never any guarantee that a spirit will be born. No one knows what will work until - poof - a new spirit."

"In other words, we have no idea," Haku said drily. "No one has bothered to figure it out, because it hadn't been a problem until last few millennia. Spirits used to be born all the time, and then mostly left to their own devices."

"So do spirits have family? Parents?"

"Technically, yes," Haku said. "But it wasn't important until recently. Spirits aren't much for "parenting." Until recently, many spirits grew up never having even met their parents. Familial units didn't exist before, and even now, they're more political constructs than what humans regard as families."

"Spirit children are rare these days, and no one knows why," Shika said, "but that means it's become a huge honor to be a parent. Children are status symbols. Having a powerful child, like Tenryu, is a mark of high status, whereas having a child like me is a...well..."

"Disappointment?" Haku suggested, smiling knowingly.

"To put it mildly," Shika said. "Being worshipped is power. Being befriended is a disgrace."

"Being killed," Haku said, "is also a disgrace. To put it mildly."

They laughed, but Chihiro saw that the shadow was back in Haku's eyes.

They came to village before they knew it. One second the village was below them, the next, they were walking between wooden houses. Shika set Kojika down and bid them goodbye, promising to be back in the evening.

Risuni looked at Haku, who had hesitated. "Coming with us?" she asked.

He looked at Shika, and then toward Chihiro, and shook his head. He watched them walk away into the village.

Risuni called out to the old men and women sitting in their living rooms, the paneled doors wide open to the narrow street. They waved and greeted the girls, and called into houses to summon the household children. Soon, Chihiro and Risuni had an entourage following them.

"They don't have school?" Chihiro asked.

"Not until they're seven," Risuni replied.

"Are they all related to you?" Chihiro said, astonished.

Risuni laughed. "Maybe half of them, and distantly," she said. "When younger people move away, sometimes they hire people to work the fields and look after the older folks, and these workers often bring their families here. Some stay."

Risuni led them, winding between the houses, until they came to one that was closed and shuttered. She pulled a key out and unlocked the wooden doors, pushing the panels aside to reveal a living room that could've been identical to any of the ones they'd passed. An older woman came, pulled by the hand by one of the children. She smiled and called out to Risuni, and held up a bucket full of rags. She handed the bucket to one of the older children and sent her behind the house to draw water.

When the child returned from the well, they had opened up the doors and windows of the house, and together with the children, they took the dampened rags and raced through the house, cleaning the dust from the floor. The house filled with shouted arguments and laughter. Chihiro was amazed by the scene, but she reined it in and focused on the work. The work felt good and familiar in her body, and it was good to stop thinking and to do something so simple, well. As they worked, other villagers came by with news, with food, or just to say hello. Risuni introduced Chihiro to each of them, and many of the older people commented on how comfortable a city girl like her seemed to feel cleaning the Japanese way. They said it with good-natured laughter and a teasing smile, making Chihiro blush and smile in return. She thought about her neighbors back home whom she had rarely spoken to, and who ignored her in return, and shook her head.

After they and the children had cleaned off the floors, they sat on the still-damp floor with legs dangling off the edge together eating rice cakes that one parent had brought and fruit brought by another. Chihiro was again astonished and delighted by this easy camaraderie, and found herself chatting easily. After this impromptu lunch, most of the children ran off to their own chores at home. The ones who stayed helped to open up the closets and take out furniture that was stored there. They dusted the furniture off and placed them around the house. They were just placing clothing into drawers when Risuni's parents returned with bags of fresh produce. They thanked the children and invited them all to stay for dinner.

They crowded around the small low table piled high with food in the living room, and ate, and talked. Risuni's parents asked the village children for news of their families, and the children begged Risuni and Chihiro for tales of stores and skyscrapers in the big city. As the children fought over the last helpings of everything on the table, Chihiro looked around at the joyful chaos around her, and wondered why she had never felt that at home, or even at school. Then she realized: there was no television in the corner, and no phones in the hands of the children. They only had each other.

* * *

Haku watched them walk away into the village. He had considered, briefly, going with them, but it wasn't his place. He was a spirit. _Maybe before, when the worlds were still together, maybe back then, spirits had a place in human lives. But now, living as a human?_ He smiled bitterly. Of all of the spirits, he was the most human. If anyone belonged in the human world, it was him. But even to him, it didn't feel right.

There were stories of spirits who left the heavens to live in the human world. They were always punished for lowering themselves that way. The stories ended with them separated from their loved ones, only able to see each other once a year, or less. Their children ended up with a foot in each world, never belonging anywhere.

So he walked back up into the mountains. Not too far. Close enough to look down into the village below and see the crowd of children. To see her, talking and laughing with the villagers. He watched as the mountain village welcomed Chihiro warmly and without question. He watched as she smiled and the tension trickled out of her shoulders as the kindness of the people flowed into her veins. The sun flew across the sky.

Around sunset, Shika found him perched on the branch of a gnarled pine, watching the village light the lamps.

"Are you coming down to the house?" Shika asked.

"What for?" Haku asked, surprised.

Shika shrugged. "They're so rarely here. They only come back on holidays, if at all. I try to spend more time with them while they're here."

"You mean Risuni," Haku guessed, dropping from the branch and landing lightly on the balls of his feet.

Shika laughed. "All of the children are important to me," he said, starting down the mountain. "Less so as they grow up and spend less time in my forests. But yes, especially her." He grinned at Haku. "And what about yourself? Aren't you here because of the other one? Chihiro?"

Haku nodded.

"Tenryu thinks she's the one we need, to end the war," Shika said.

"Yes, I know," Haku snapped back. He had already heard the same sentiment from Tenryu too many times. "Tenryu thinks he can just use human lives for whatever purpose he sees fit."

Shika shook his head. "Of course it's her choice. But if he's right about her, she'll do it."

Haku growled in reply.

They came to the house from the back and settled in the grass beneath a tree. Light shone warmly from inside the house, and cold starlight danced sweetly across Haku's skin through the gaps in the leaves. Haku stared at the silhouette of the two laughing girls on the brightly lit window-paper.

"You need to tell her soon," Shika said from beside him. "She deserves to know, and you don't have much time. She'll need time to think about it."

 _What she deserves_ , Haku thought, _is to live a life filled with meaningful interactions with good people, rather than the high stress life of the city where the important things are drowned under the burden of a great many urgent things._

The door slid open, throwing light and long shadows across the grass. Haku blinked and moved to shield his eyes from the glare. Through his fingers, he saw the dark shapes of the girls step down off the raised floor of the house. A wind sprite whirled around the corner and playfully tugged on their clothes and hair. Though they were tired, it seemed that all their cares had fallen away. They stood straighter.

"Little sister wind," Shika whispered. "How are you?"

The breeze spun around Shika affectionately and kissed him gently on the cheek. It brushed Haku's sleeve softly, timidly.

Even the spirits are happier here, Haku thought. "It's okay," he mouthed, holding out a hand. "I won't hurt you, little sister." The wind rested on his palm for a brief moment, then flew off again - a lively wind never stopped for long - and then Chihiro was in front of him, her clothes softly billowing in the breeze. She sat down and the breeze wafted her scent toward him.

She smelled of rain. _Why did she smell of rain?_

 _Rain. Wet earth._

 _Rain pattering overhead on the surface, splashing on his skin - the most beautiful music he had ever heard. And the little fish, how they danced, jumping above the surface to snatch at the insects._

"Have you seen Aunt and Uncle's new baby?" Risuni asked Shika. "That makes three boys in the family. I can't believe Koji is a big brother." She sat down across from him, next to Shika. Her words brought Haku back to the present, but reluctantly. The memory had sunk deep and opened him up.

"Of course I have," Shika retorted. "I haven't been gadding about in the city."

"You're not still upset about that, are you?" Risuni said. "I don't have the same freedom as you. I actually have to listen to my parents."

Shika sighed. "I miss you, that's all."

Risuni sighed in response and leaned back against Shika's side.

"You're very quiet," Chihiro said softly, looking up at Haku. "Are you alright? Where have you been all day?"

Haku shrugged. "Just around," he said.

Chihiro laughed quietly. "Tell me something else then. Something about yourself. Where are you from? Where is your family?"

"My family," Haku mused. "My father lives to the west of here, past Niigata. I suppose I come from there, if anywhere. My mother… refuses to settle down. And you know Fujisan. The others… they're kind of everywhere."

Chihiro thought about this. "So your father lives on the coast? Or on Sado Island?" she asked. "Did you grow up there?"

"Not really," Haku replied.

Shika laughed. "Is that how humans think nowadays?" he said.

"Be nice," Risuni said. "Haku's father lives in the Sea of Japan," she explained to Chihiro. "More precisely, he _is_ the Sea of Japan. Just as Fujisan _is_ Fujisan."

Chihiro looked startled for a moment, then asked, "And your mother?"

Haku sighed. He didn't like where this conversation was going at all. He wasn't worried about Chihiro believing him. After all, she had taken everything she had heard today incredibly well. But he wouldn't be able to stop her from seeing the implications, once she knew. "She's a rain spirit," he said.

"You can see why most spirits aren't exactly upset about the worlds separating," Shika said drily.

"I don't understand," Chihiro said.

"The things that we do to the Earth," Risini said, "we do to their bodies. The rain here isn't as acidified as it is over some parts of Europe, but it's not getting better. Chemical pollution, deforestation, climate change, ocean acidification. They're all diseases to spirits. Sometimes we kill them outright. When species go extinct, or when forests are cut down. We're killing them. That's what Shika is referring to."

"I'm sure you know more about the diseases humans are inflicting on spirits better than we do, except you call them _environmental issues_ ," Shika said. "Such a sterile term. Look up there." He gestured toward the mountains they had walked down that morning. "That forest is me. When the children play there, I see them. I feel their hands and feet when they climb my trees. Their parents don't worry because they know I'm looking after the children.

"The people here respect the land; the land is alive to them. The river talks to the priest. The forest watches over the children. It's easy to love the earth here, where you work with it every day, and it works with you. The spirits and the humans have a history here. That's not the norm now. Most humans don't live like this anymore. They've all left for the cities."

"Culture and learning are concentrated in cities," Chihiro said. "You can meet more people, do more things. There are more opportunities."

"Opportunities for destruction," Shika said. Risuni shushed him.

Haku shook his head. "In the city, there's always something keeping humans from connection with the earth. A layer of concrete between you and the soil, or a blindfold between you and where your food comes from. You don't see the trees that make up your paper and the frames of your houses or the lakes and rivers that supply your water. Or the swamp buried beneath your streets. It's not malicious. Humans aren't evil. It's ignorance and neglect."

Shika glared at Haku. "Is that what your father's been brainwashing you with in that palace of yours? I expected _you_ to understand. _You've_ been a victim."

"Why not just let the worlds split, then?" Chihiro interrupted.

"What could that possibly accomplish?" Shika said in surprise.

"Won't that keep spirits be safe from us?" Chihiro asked.

"We've had many different relationships with humans, across cultures and times. Humans have feared us and worshiped us and befriended us," Haku explained. "Humans tell stories about us. Even if those relationships weren't ideal, they were there, connecting humans to the earth. But now, humans don't see life in the earth anymore. And if the earth is not alive, then there is nothing wrong with exploiting it. Humans don't hate us; they are just unaware that we exist. That's what's causing the problem."

"We're stuck with each other," Shika said. "The forest is my body. Spirits are not physical beings."

"Speak for yourself," Haku interjected.

"You're just weird," Shika shot back, and then continued. "If the worlds separated, I would be in the equivalent of a coma. Or a zombie, to use the pop culture of your generation. Can you imagine how humans would treat the earth if it were actually dead? People living in harmony with the spirits, that's how it should be."

The door opened again. "Chihiro!" Suzume called. "Your parents are on the phone."

Chihiro jumped up.

"Wait a second," Shika said. "You need to tell her, Haku.."

"What is it?" Chihiro said.

"No." Haku said vehemently.

Chihiro stared at Haku, who was glaring at Shika. He had been so quiet, so neutral about it all, up to now.

"Then I will," Shika snapped. "Chihiro, there are some spirits who are trying to close the Gates, to separate the worlds completely, like you suggested. If they succeed, the humans and spirits are both doomed."

"Shika," Haku said sharply.

Shika ignored him. "We need your help to stitch the worlds back together, you represent the humans, you could-"

"She could be killed!" Haku shouted.

"We could all be killed," Shika replied.

 _Children played in an alpine meadow, hands clasped in a ring, chanting a rhyme, when suddenly, the sky darkened and it started to rain. Children ran down the mountain with their arms over their heads, shrieking, until only one of their number, a little girl, stood alone on the mountainside. "Mommy," the girl pouted, "we were playing!" A woman appeared out of the rain onto the foggy mountainside. She scooped up a little girl into her arms. "The plants are thirsty," she said. "Weren't you thirsty, Aokigahara?" "I guess so," admitted the girl, looking around at the little trees. "If the plants don't get enough water, then your friends won't have anything to eat during the winter."_

Chihiro blinked, and the vision faded. She had never seen anything like that before. Maybe in dreams, but never while she was awake. _Could it be real?_ Then Haku's words replayed in her mind. _She could be killed, he had said. Not no, that's ridiculous. Not you have the wrong person. She could be killed._

"Chihiro!" Suzume called again.

Chihiro startled and ran to the house, leaving Haku alone with Shika and Risuni.

"You can't ask her to do this!" Haku said vehemently.

"We _need_ her. You know we do."

"Shika," Risuni said. "You can't be serious. Chihiro can't…"

"Tenryu believes she can," Shika said quietly. "In fact Tenryu believes that it all depends on her. And Zeniba agrees."

"But-"

Chihiro's voice cut through the now still air, interrupting Risuni's protest.

"Dad! How's Mom?" There was a pause. "That's great!" Pause. "What? Tokyo?" Pause. "As soon as possible?"

The three sitting outside stared at the house, not breathing. They strained to catch her words.

"Dad, I can't," Chihiro said. "I've gotta do something here first." A long pause. "I have to help a friend out. No, it's okay. Really." There was the sound of muttering.

Suzume's voice took over. "Akio," she said. "I have a suggestion. Listen. How about you and Yuuki come and join Chihiro here when Yuuki is feeling up to it? It's no trouble to us here, and it'll save you from paying for hotel space."

"My parents know?" Risuni whispered.

Shika nodded.

"Yes, of course." Pause. "It really is no trouble at all." Pause. "Yes, and there's a local high school here that the girls can attend temporarily until everything is sorted out."

"It's settled then? Next week? Great. We'll get everything ready for you here." Pause. "It's no problem, Akio. Don't worry about it. Do you want to talk to Chihiro again?" The talking paused as the phone changed hands.

"I'm sure, Dad. I'll be fine. This is really important to me..."

Haku groaned.

"Her parents are going to be here next week," Shika said in a low voice. "What are they going to say if she's not here? You can't put this off anymore, Haku."

Haku only hid his face in his hands.

* * *

They talked late into the night. Chihiro learned more from Shika and the Shinkonos than she thought there was to know about the war, the Gate, and the generations of preparation of familial enclaves around the world that had gone into this venture. They talked obliquely about Chihiro's role in this, not directly, for fear the wind would carry the words away.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Chihiro?" Risuni asked. They lay on the floor of Risuni's childhood bedroom.

"You're a part of this too," Chihiro said.

"I was born into this," Risuni said. "It's the reason my family exists. But you weren't. You can choose not to be a part of this. They could find someone else."

"I don't think they can," Chihiro said. "You saw how conflicted Haku was. He knows it's dangerous, and he doesn't want me to do it. If there was another option, he would've have been the first to suggest it. And I've always envied your family, you know that. You have something here worth protecting. It _feels_ right." She bit her lip. Haku had refused to look at her after she returned from the phone call with her parents, and had only spoken once the entire evening, saying "I will also go" when Shika had offered to guide Chihiro in the Spirit World.

"You know the thing that frustrates me most?" Chihiro said. "I feel silly thinking about this when the real problem is so much bigger. It's Haku. I don't know him very well, or really at all, but he knows _me_ and cares about me. I think he would rather both species die out than have me get hurt. But why? What could I possibly have done for him? And why can't he tell me?"

Chihiro didn't expected an answer. She just needed Risuni to know of these thoughts. But Risuni did have something to offer.

"I don't know the details," Risuni said, "but I heard that you saved his life."

"Me?" Chihiro asked. "But how? Spirits are immortal, aren't they?"

Risuni shook her said. "You'll have to ask Shika, if Haku won't tell you himself. All I know is that Prince Kohaku, as we called him before, disappeared ten, fifteen years ago. And when he reappeared, they said it was because of you. You found him, or something." She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've known other people who had their memories taken from them by the Gate. It's not right, what that spell does. But if what Haku said is true, maybe yours are still there. Maybe you'll get the back, when the Gate comes down. Maybe one day you'll get those answers."

 **A/N I said it would be late, but I finished it! :D Still running behind, though. Hope everyone had a great week!**


	9. Chapter 8 - Swamp Bottom

**Chapter 8: Swamp Bottom**

"I'm sorry, Haku. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed you into this."

"You didn't push me. You pushed this on her."

The mist billowed around them, but revealed nothing. There was only more mist behind the mist. The world had disappeared. They walked along, closer than they normally would in order not to get lost, Haku's hand on Shika's shoulder.

"She should know what she's capable of," Shika said.

"Do you really think you could beat Akuma?" Haku demanded. "What are the chances that she'll come out of this alive?"

"You don't think we can do it?" Shika said.

"No, I don't. You're going up against a _god_."

"We have more support than you think. And now we have you. Once you're King, -"

"Is that what Tenryu's been telling you?" Haku asked bitterly. "I've told him a thousand times, _I can't help you_. Must I spell it out for you? Fujisan can whip me with his eyes closed. He has, in fact. And you want me to go up again Akuma? Don't convince yourself that I'm here for you, or Tenryu, or your cause."

"Then why _are_ you here?"

"For her. I owe her my life. I can't protect her against Akuma, but I will be a body between them and her. That's all I'm good for now. I can't lose her." It was more than saving his life or restoring his identity. The thought of her had kept him going in all the years since.

Shika sighed. "We lose them all, in the end," he said. "They grow up so fast and their lives are so short. Even more so, now. Most of the young people move to the city to find work. They're all still children in my mind, the ones that are gone. Risuni wouldn't be back at all, if not for Fujisan."

"How can you bear it?"

"You've lived much longer than I. I should be asking you."

"I did my duty by my people, before. Never more than that. I spent most of my time at the palace. When the humans stopped caring, _I_ stopped caring. If Chihiro hadn't fallen into my river, I would never have noticed her. It's been eons since I've been so close to a human. I'd forgotten what it was like…"

A muffled and rhythmic creaking crept into the air around them. The opaque white mist faded and they emerged into the night at Swamp Bottom Station. A one-legged lamp hopped out of the trees towards them and bowed, inviting them to follow back it into the forest. Silently, they did. It was no longer safe to talk.

At the door, Shika bowed and bid the young prince and the witch good-bye. The mist enveloped him as he walked away. Haku spoke to Zeniba for a few moments, and then walked to the back of the house and through a paneled sliding door much like the one he had watched the girls walk through, not long ago. The moon shone onto the swamp. Its reflection in the spring mocked Haku. _Noble words. You want to die for her? Be my guest. What good will that do? You can't protect her. You might've been a dragon once, but now you're just a weakling. Practically a human._

Haku stared into the water. He couldn't remember, back when he made that promise to her, if he had known she would forget him. if he had known, would he still have let her go? "Please," he said. "I need to be myself again." And he stepped into the spring.

* * *

 _Haku sat cross-legged on the shining surface of a pool; his palms lay face-down on the water at his sides. He closed his eyes and reached within himself with his mind, pulling out a thin silver strand. As he gathered it with his mind, liquid light spread from each palm and settled onto the surface of the spring around him like the reflection of a great moon. The light spread in ripples, with him at its center. Gradually, the water rose around him to surround him with a smooth wall, glistening and crystalline in the moonlight._

 _The spring filled Haku's consciousness. He saw the rocky bottom and the tiny creatures that lived in the cracks there. He tasted the minerals that were dissolved in the water, felt the bubbles from below the earth disturbing the spring at the fissures. He felt the moon's pull that caused the slight ebb of the tide._

 _And then his mind was filled with different images - images of a river, pulled from deep within himself. Grasses the color of his mane lined the bottom of the river, and small fish wove through the fronds. Crabs scuttled about amongst the stones, hiding beneath them from the ducks diving through the surface. Leaves covered the surface, and then ice. It laughed as it skipped along and tripped down small waterfalls like a child, and it was so comfortable, so right._

 _And it was gone. The weight of the wall of water suddenly left Haku trembling, and he gasped at the emptiness of the gaping hole in his chest where his heart ought to be. There was nothing holding him up so he took a deep breath and held it, trying to fill that void with air as he tried to raise the wall higher. But his mind rejected his magical handling of the water. It was too like and too different from his river, the amber river which he had lost._

 _The water fought his control. It refused to obey. He tried again to force the water higher with his mind and to block out the memories, but he was tired, and grief swept over him and took away his will. Without it, he had no strength. The wall of water collapsed back into the pool with a splash, and the silver light dissipated. Haku opened his eyes to stand up again, and stumbled when his feet touched the bottom of the pool. The liquid no longer supported him. The water left his clothes as he went; it preferred to stay in the pool rather than to cling to this master which rejected it. He dragged himself back to a house and staggered through paneled doors to a darkened room, and lay on the bed, shivering with fatigue and remembering._

Chihiro woke to a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes snapped open; the dream was still fresh in her mind. It was Shika. Shika put a finger to his mouth, and motioned for her to get up. They're watching us, he mouthed. Let's go for a walk. He touched the hairband still wrapped around her wrist, and nodded. Chihiro followed his lead, silently folding the blankets and tiptoeing out of the house.

The sky outside was still gray. The mountains were dark silhouettes against the brightening sky. The narrow streets were empty, and morning mist hung over everything. A crow hopped alongside them on the tiled roof overhanging the street, cawing. Shika pulled Chihiro closer to him as they walked past the large black bird, and put his arm around her protectively. Silently, Shika led her up the mountain to where the forest grew, and then took her by the hand. A cloud descended upon them, creeping in from all sides. They walked into the forest until the mist shrouded them, and all around them was a familiar whiteness.

"It's safe to talk now," Shika said. His voice was strangely muffled. "They can't hear us here."

"Who are they?" Chihiro said.

"Akuma's spies," Shika said. "That crow in town was one, did you see? They've been everywhere, and your little lover is pretty visible."

Chihiro blushed. "Don't call him that."

Shika looked at her, surprised. "Ah," he said, smiling. "You _do_ like him."

Chihiro could see why Risuni thought of the deer spirit as her brother. She pushed him as a reply.

"Be careful," Shika said, suddenly serious. "Don't let go of me. It's easy to get lost here."

"What is this place?" Chihiro found that her voice fell flat, too. The air was perfectly still.

"Think of this as the wood between the worlds," Shika said. "As far as I know, I'm the only one who can come here. If you lose contact with me," he looked at Chihiro darkly, "you'll disappear into the mist and you might never find your way out. It's risky, but it's the only way to cross the border without going through the Gate." He shook his head. "But why worry? Just hold on to me, and you'll be fine."

"Where's Haku?" Chihiro asked.

"He's on the other side, waiting for us. We crossed last night. It would attract unwanted attention if the three of us traveled together this morning. Like I said, he's _very_ visible. Akuma's spies are keeping an eye on him, for sure."

Chihiro nodded. "What's my role in this? What do you need me to do?"

"There are a few things. The first thing, the Gate between the worlds is wearing down, and so are the pathways between the worlds. We need to stabilize the Gate and the connection, so that the worlds don't preemptively break apart. When the Gate was built, a human sacrifice was buried at the base to power the…. no, no, don't think that, we're not going to sacrifice you!" Shika had seen the look of horror on Chihiro's face. "No. Blood taken that way is powerful, but blood willingly given is much more so. A blood oath. A few drops from you, from spirits, and from the mixed blood families, to show true intent."

"That doesn't seem so bad," Chihiro said. "Why is Haku so reluctant to let me do it?"

"Because it brings you into the spotlight. It makes you a target. We will do our best to keep you safe, but as you saw today, Akuma's spies are everywhere. Also, it doesn't end for you after you take the oath. You must use your life, the blood in your veins, for the reconnection of the worlds. It will define how you live your life." Shika looked at her earnestly. "You can still change your mind," he said. "Are you sure about this? Don't take it lightly."

Chihiro thought about the world that she had clung to, through folktales and stories, all through her childhood. That world was _real_ , and if she was to believe Shika and Haku, she had known it once. That memory had been taken from her, but the world had not abandoned her. The characters of that story had come looking for her. "Yes," she said. "I'll do it. Tell me about the other things."

Shika nodded approvingly. "Okay. In order to join the worlds permanently, we need the King. Only he has the power to do something like that. Currently, that's Haku's father. We would like you to talk to the King, and convince him to use his power to join the worlds again. Since the coronation is coming up, King Nihonkai won't be on the throne for much longer. If he is not willing, then we want you to help us convince Haku to take the throne."

" _Haku_ is going to be the next King?" Chihiro interrupted.

Shika looked at Chihiro sharply before replying: "He's our best chance. Succession is complicated in the Spirit World. His father is the King, but that doesn't mean he'll get the throne. The heir is chosen by a council from all of the eligible dragons of this generation, not by birth order or how closely related you are to the King. What's important is, I don't think he _wants_ the throne. He was trained to rule, being a prince, and he was a favorite for succession before he disappeared. Now, who knows? "

"What do you mean, disappeared? What happened to him?" Chihiro asked.

"Hmm. You should remember a river by the name of Kohaku?"

"The Kohaku River…oh! My parents used to take us picnicking on the bank, back in the city. It was filled in…it's all…apartments now…that's what he meant by 'being killed.'" Her head ached at the thought. She shushed it silently.

"Yes. Haku used to be the spirit of the Kohaku River. When the river was filled in, he should have died. Instead, he forgot who he was and lost his magic and became a witch's apprentice. You're the one who found him, Chihiro, seven years ago, and you helped him to remember who he was."

Chihiro considered this. It explained a great deal. She fought to push her now pounding headache to the back of her mind. "So what happens to a spirit that loses his body?" she asked. "You said it would be like being in a coma, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Haku."

"You'll have to ask him, if he'll tell you," Shika said. "He hasn't told me."

"So where are we going now?"

"To a friend's. Zeniba's. The problem is that spirits can smell a human from miles away, and we can't afford to attract attention. The smell takes three days of eating Spirit World food to wear off. We'll need to hide you until that happens, to even have a chance of getting to the palace. Zeniba is a witch and powerful enough to discourage most of our enemies. That is, unless the Prince of Darkness himself decides to get his hands dirty. You'll stay there for the three days with Haku to protect you. When the scent wears off, Haku will take you to see the King."

"The prince of darkness?"

"My personal name for Akuma. Do you remember the story? Everything leads back to Akuma. The humans' greed is his doing, and he led the faction that built the Gates. Now, he's behind the spirits that want to separate the worlds completely. And I'm afraid he has Prince Fujisan on his side. Fujisan thinks Akuma will guarantee him succession of King Nikonhai's throne."

"I don't remember reading about any witches in Japan. Do you mean fox spirits?"

"So many questions," he teased. Chihiro glared at him in reply. "It's a good question. Zeniba and her sister, Yubaba are rather unique. They are half-human. They've studied magic for almost two hundred years, and are powerful sorceresses."

There were so many things Chihiro wanted to ask about. _Risuni has spirit blood too. Does that mean she's a witch? And why did Fujisan leave the human world? What if Haku becomes the King?_ She settled on the most pressing one. "Why me?" Chihiro asked. "What could I possibly say to convince the King?"

"You are proof that humans are not evil," Shika said. He shook his head as Chihiro started to protest. "Your history, what you've done already in the Spirit World, proves it. I can't say more than that. I don't want to influence you that way. And anyway, I can't give you your memories back. There's no way for me to tell you who you were or how you felt. But don't worry. We have faith that you'll do well. Trust in who you are right now."

Chihiro ground her teeth. She was sick of having something so big hidden from her. She tried to understand that Shika was respecting and trusting her, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. "Is there any way-" she tried to ask, but Shika motioned for her to stop talking. In a moment, they were walking out of the fog and down a path in another wood.

The trees were different here, the leaves broader. The sunlight barely made it through the canopy to the ground. It splattered on the path, leaving the impression of water. The ground was springy underfoot. A swamp.

As they walked, Chihiro couldn't help looking over her shoulder. _The sixth stop,_ a voice said in the back of Chihiro's mind. The skin on the back of her neck prickled. Her knees shook. Was she remembering? Was something following them? She tried to shake the thought away. They walked faster. _The sixth stop._ She began to feel nauseous, and the buzzing started again in her head, loudly. _The sixth station. Swamp bottom._

Shika felt a presence behind them. He pulled Chihiro along by the hand, but she seemed more and more reluctant. He looked back and caught her as she went limp. He ran, carrying her. The rounded a bend and the house came into view. Behind him, he heard rustling. He ran faster.

A stout woman in a blue dress appeared in the air in front of them. She had grotesque proportions, with a head and hands too large large for her body, a product of living too long in the Spirit World with human blood. She made a slicing motion and something yelped behind them. Shika ran right past her before he slowed, breathing heavily in the eve of the house. They were in safe territory now. He looked up to see Haku standing in the shadow of the doorway. His knuckles were white from clutching the door frame and the whites showed at the edges of his eyes. He stared at the unconscious girl in the deer spirit's arms, but her breathing was deep and steady. He stepped back without a word and led them in.


	10. Interlude: Sanctuary

**Interlude: Bathhouse**

Yubaba glanced down from her balcony with satisfaction. The orange glow in the distance told her that the ferry station was still busy. Another bright spot on the water was the ferry itself, with another load of travellers. The town was an explosion of festive color. The lanterns and the neon signs flickered in the darkness as customers moved between the stalls. The wooden bridge below was crowded with patrons. It would be a good night for business.

Something drew her gaze to the far end of the bridge. Among the well-dressed and chattering spirits stood a group of swan geese in rags, looking up at the bathhouse. One of their number was injured. Two of the others held her under the arms, supporting her. They all looked the worse for wear. The crowd stepped around them, glancing at them in disgust. She would start losing customers if this continued. It would not do.

Yubaba backed away from the balcony edge and into her office. She walked to her desk where her phone sat atop a stack of books and snapped orders into the skull mouthpiece at the foreman. A stream of apologies issued from the skull's mouth. She released her grip on it, cutting off the nasally voice of the foreman, and returned to the balcony. She watched as a yuna hurried over to the group of women, spoke to them, and led them away.


	11. Chapter 9 - Dreams and Memories

**Note: I had to reupload this chapter because it was missing the last scene at the end! I apologize if you read it earlier and are getting an email again!**

 **Interludes don't count as chapters ;) Have a nice weekend, everyone!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - Dreams and Memories**

"It was the tengu again. That's the third time this week I've had to warn it off."

"Do you think it's working for him?"

"I don't know, but it knows she's here."

"So what do we do? Do we change the plan?"

"Move her? She'll risk being seen again."

"We could just kill it."

"Control yourself, Haku. If it is working for him, that's sure to give us away."

Chihiro opened her eyes to a feeling of deja vu. She was lying on a large four poster bed. The room was small and cozy, in a Victorian kind of way, with small bedside tables and a soft armchair in one corner. A woven rug covered the center of the floor. Curtains pulled back from the glass french doors set into one wall revealed the swamp beyond. The moon was just rising over the trees, throwing shadows over everything. The other door was wooden, and closed. She recognized the voices of Haku and Shika beyond the door. The third voice had to be the witch. Zeniba, she was called.

She pulled off the covers and slipped off the bed, pulling on her shoes. She walked to the door that the voices came from, and opened it. Haku and Shika were sitting at a large wooden table in front of a fireplace over which a kettle hung, looking relieved to see her. There was no one else. She closed her eyes.

"This room looks different," she said without thinking.

"Very good, Chihiro," came the witch's voice. Chihiro opened her eyes and looked around for the source. "You've been here before, so we moved the furniture to avoid triggering the curse. Two of us are invisible," the voice explained.

The voice was closer to Chihiro now. She felt a large, wrinkled hand take hers. "I am Zeniba," the voice said. Zeniba moved Chihiro's hand until she touched a thin wrist. "This is No-Face." The sensations were familiar, but the pain in her head did not return. She trusted Zeniba.

"How long was I asleep?" Chihiro asked.

"For most of the day," Haku said. "You recognized the path to the house. The charm put you to sleep to protect your mind."

"It's just as well," Shika said. "Time runs differently here. Spirits are generally nocturnal. You're just in time for breakfast." He grinned.

"I'm sure you'll want to get cleaned up first," Zeniba said. "There's a spring behind the house. Why don't you go wash up? The water's warm."

The invisible hand led Chihiro back into the bedroom and through the French doors. Zeniba pointed out the shallow bank of the rock-bottomed pool, and left Chihiro there to undress.

Chihiro left her clothes in a pile on a rock and waded into the spring. It was deep enough the swim in and slightly cool on her skin. The pool was crystal clear, and she could see to the rocky bottom. Though the water was connected to the rest of the swamp, the pool was continuously renewed by the spring. Leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark floated around her, and were carried away by the gentle current. She dunked her head in and started pulling her fingers through her hair. Bathing out in the open under the moonlight seemed both scandalous and somehow right. The night was quiet, and the water shimmered around her. Her hair waved about under the water as she started scrubbing at her skin. Her skin tingled, hyper aware of the subtle currents and eddies in the water around her. The water seemed different from any water in the human world. It seemed alive. As she thought this, the dream from the night before came back to her. She had dreamed of this very spot. She had watched Haku sit upon this water as moonlight flowed from his fingers. _What had he been doing? And then he had left the spring and… he must have walked through those french doors! That must be why the bedroom looked so familiar._

Chihiro heard the door open and turned to see Zeniba come out with a thick, fluffy towel. Or rather, the towel floated out the door on its own. The water clung to her feet as she rose from the spring. She dried herself off and wrapped herself in the towel, and then took her pile of clothes through the paneled doors into the bedroom. _Haku's bedroom_. There was a beautiful kimono laid out on the bed in rich blue silk embroidered with silver branches and white cherry blossoms. Chihiro set her clothes down next to the kimono and stroked the delicate stitches in wonder. It was the softest thing she had ever felt. She was still marveling when the door opened and Zeniba came in.

"That's for you," Zeniba said. "Do you like it?"

Chihiro nodded wordlessly.

"You'll be beautiful in it." Chihiro thought she could hear a smile in the old woman's voice. The next few minutes passed in a whirl as Zeniba showed her how each piece was fastened. To Chihiro, it seemed as if the kimono had put itself on her. When the last silver sash had been tied around her waist, Chihiro moved her limbs experimentally. She had never worn a formal kimono before. They had always looked very uncomfortable to her – there was just so much cloth. But the cloth was thin and felt like air on her skin, and allowed more mobility than she had thought slipped her feet into wooden sandals like the ones she had seen in the mountain village. She could feel Zeniba beaming at her, invisibly, as Zeniba tucked a sprig of sakura blossoms into her hair behind her ear.

Zeniba opened the door to the rest of the house and Chihiro stepped out, staring at her feet. For some silly reason, she felt shy.

Haku was standing looking out the window. He turned at the creak of the door. Chihiro stared; her breath caught in her throat. Haku stood tall and dignified in a knee-length white kimono with teal edges. The cloth shimmered with a pattern of scales. He had untied his hair and it just brushed the shoulders of his kimono. Inside, his shirt and hakama, which reached the tops of his feet, were the same deep blue as Chihiro's kimono. Its simplicity radiated power and grace.

Haku stared back as if seeing Chihiro for the first time. She seemed so delicate, like blown sugar. The cloth draped over her shoulders and hugged her small frame, the sleeves hung low and the bow behind her accentuated her innocence. The blue silk and silver embroidery reminded Haku of the night sky and the pink flowers in her hair brought out the human color in her cheeks. Her rich brown eyes were wide in surprise, and the expression made him want to reach out and touch her. It seemed impossible that the Chihiro he had seen through that magical window and this one were the same person. Haku smiled. "You're beautiful," he said.

Chihiro realized she'd been staring. A blush rose on her cheeks. She looked away and her eyes met Shika's.

"Sexy, isn't he?" Shika said, smirking. It made Chihiro blush even more, but the friendly banter made her feel less out of her element. She could see where Risuni had picked up her snark.

"Are you jealous?" she asked, smiling too now.

"Of _him_? Nah, my charming personality more than makes up for his good looks." And they laughed until the invisible presence of No-Face forcibly dragged them to the table to be fed.

Chihiro was surprised by the mix of Japanese and western fare. She had always considered one to be modern, and the other, traditional. But, Zeniba told her, there were families like the Shinkonos all over the world, who remained connected to the land and thus maintained the connection between the worlds, and each kept their own traditions. There was at least one family for each Gate that had been raised, at least one spirit that was related to that family guarding that bloodline.

Near the end of the meal, with a knowing smile at Chihiro, Shika asked Zeniba for a story about Chihiro's time there.

"I know this must be frustrating for you," Zeniba said. "I wish I could counter the spell completely, but it's too powerful for me alone. Once the spell is removed, we'll be able to get you those memories back." Her chair squeaked as she sat back with a sigh.

"We first met when you helped me get into Yubaba's office," Zeniba said.

"Her twin sister," Haku explained, seeing Chihiro's puzzled look. "She runs the bathhouse in the town by the Gate."

Zeniba continued. "A certain young dragon here had stolen my golden seal at my sister's behest, and I had followed him to try to get it back."

"What?" Chihiro said, looking at Haku. "You stole something?"

Haku rolled his eyes. Obviously, the incident had become something of a joke between him and Zeniba in the years since it had happened. "I was working for Yubaba at the time," he said. "She wanted the seal. So of course I stole it. She never told me her sister could turn into a flock of murderous paper birds."

" _You_ helped him get away from me," Zeniba said, directing her voice at Chihiro. She sounded amused. "He escaped to Yubaba's office and you followed him there, and led me right to him! Later that day, you showed up at my door with the seal, wanting to apologize for this deliquent here. Can you imagine my shock? I'm known around these parts as the evil witch. To have a little girl show up at my door. You were much smaller then, and at that time my sister coddled her baby so much that I didn't expect children to be able to do anything." She laughed.

Shika smiled at Chihiro with an expression that said, does that answer your questions? She looked to Haku. He smiled back, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, which were inscrutable as always, gazing at her intently. She wondered, not for the first time, what he was thinking.

"So I knew you too, before," Chihiro said to Haku, who nodded. "How did we meet?"

Haku paused before he spoke, considering his answer. "We first met in the human world," he said. "I was not in this form at the time. You fell into my river as a child." The haunted look was back in his eyes, and he refused to say anything more.

 _The Kohaku River,_ Chihiro thought, considering the bright green eyes gazing at her from across the table. _That's right. What is it like, to have lost a part of yourself?_ But she did not have time to muse on it further. The discussion had moved on to whether they should wait out her three days of hiding elsewhere.

Between Shika, Haku, and Zeniba they decided that it was safer for Chihiro to stay there for the time being, but the discussion caused Haku to become withdrawn again. Even the jokes Shika cracked couldn't make him smile. Shika bid them goodbye soon after, saying that it would draw attention for him to leave the village for too long. Chihiro thought that anything they did would probably draw attention, but said nothing. These two knew their enemy, after all. She didn't. After Shika left, Haku went into his room and closed the door without explanation.

It wasn't until Haku was out of sight that Chihiro remembered the dream again. She had missed her chance to ask him about it. Chihiro sighed and helped Zeniba clear the table. It didn't take long; the dishes washed themselves. With nothing else to do and nowhere to go, Chihiro asked Zeniba to teach her to knit.

Zeniba was an effective and patient teacher, and soon Chihiro was sitting beside Zeniba at the wooden table working on a short scarf. In the corner, the spinning wheel whirred, powered by the invisible No-Face. The work was calming, and it left her mind free to brood. How many other dreams, she wondered, were locked within the confines of her subconscious, unable to surface? How much of the past was out of reach? Why did she remember this one? Her fingers counted the stitches for her as she recalled the dream.

There had been a spring. She was almost certain it was the same one she had bathed in earlier. _But my head didn't hurt when I saw it, so it wasn't a memory from before... – why would I dream of it?_ _Was it real? Haku was sitting on the water. Not floating in the water or in the air, either. It was like the water was solid to him. There was light coming from his fingers. Magic, maybe. The water shone beautifully when it was filled the light, reflecting light back up into the moon. Without it, the water looked lonely. Still. It needed the light to be alive, but the light refused it. The light hated it._

 _No,_ Chihiro thought. _He just needs time._

 _He hates us. But you don't. You hear us and he hates us but you hear us. The water rippled._

 _He lost a dear friend. He's grieving. Who am I talking to,_ she wondered _._

 _Us. What's grieving? You hear us._

 _He is hurt. He misses her. You remind him of her,_ she thought soothingly _. Give him a chance._

* * *

Haku lay at the bottom of the spring. Everything hurt. He had tried again, and failed again, to make the water obey him. It was urgent now that it work. Chihiro was _here_ , in the Spirit World. There was no saying where Akuma was, but that feathered mop of a tengu out there was watching them, and he felt so weak that he had sunk to the bottom rather than getting up to walk back to the house.

 _The house. Where Chihiro is sitting at this very moment, wanting to remember everything._ _And Zeniba, telling her… that._ Listening to Zeniba tell the story that way had hurt more than the thought that Chihiro might never remember. Zeniba had not said that Haku's life had been at stake, did not describe the courage it must have taken to get on that train, or evoke the feel of his blood under her hands… She had left out the fact that love was what had broken the spell.

He closed his eyes, feeling his skin tremble with emotion, and exhaustion, and pain. And they wanted him to be the King. _Did they have any idea how powerless he was?_ Of course not. He had been careful not to show it. Yes, he had learned sorcery from Yubaba. And look what had come of that. She had stolen his name. Not that it was so much her doing as his foolishness. _And what was sorcery compared to what a dragon can do, a real dragon, not this pathetic…_

And so he lay there, letting the rippling moonlight crawl over his skin.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes. Something had changed. The spring was… _gurgling_? He could feel the small currents tugging on his body. They were agitated. He paused for a moment, breathing, calming his mind, and then reached out a tendril of magic. The spring water was talking, almost drowning out the other small nighttime noises.

 _What's happened?_ he thought _._

A barrage of thoughts hit him at once. Images. The sound of the wavelets lapping the stone bank became thousands of voices clamoring, overlapping each other, all saying the same thing:

 _The girl the girl the girl the girl._

 _The girl._

 _The girl the girl._

 _The girl._

Haku was astonished. _The girl? Chihiro?_

There was a slight lull, as if the spring was thinking this over.

 _Chihiro._ The voices tried out the name. _Chihiro. Her voice warm. Laughter. Chihiro. Like bubbles sparkles! Warm rain. She loves us! Hears us loves us! Chihiro loves us warm hears us loves us._

 _Loves you?_

Haku had never heard the spring's voice before. The most he'd ever felt were vague feelings, naggings, nothing so concrete. It was younger than the voice of his river, like that of many excited children. Did it mean to say that Chihiro had heard it, too?

 _She heard us! She said we were beautiful! She hears us loves us. Love her happy love her Chihiro love her!_

The spring sounded so earnest and so innocent that Haku had to smile. _What did she say to you?_ he asked.

Under the sound of a hundred wavelets saying _loves us, beautiful_ came one that pierced Haku through. _Grieving?_ it asked.

Time seemed to stop. _Grieving?_ Haku repeated. _That unbearable heaviness inside, there's a word for that feeling?_ He felt the spring's mood shift from excitement to inquisitive. _How could she know..._

 _Who was she?_ the spring asked. It replayed for him Chihiro's voice, saying _he misses her._

He had never thought of his river as female before, but it seemed right. And though he had avoided doing so purposely before, he now opened the chest where he had locked the memories of the river, delicately, trying to explain to the spring the warmth of the sun on its surface, the creatures living in the seafoam grass, the pebbles smoothed from tumbling down waterfalls...

It had belonged to him. It _was_ him. When it had gone, it had stabbed him through the heart. He envied humans' ability to cry.

Between brains, heart, and courage, the only one he felt certain he had was the heart - it couldn't possibly hurt this much if he hadn't - so he had that much over old Tin Man at least. Whereas Chihiro had all three, not to mention a way home. Chihiro. He remembered not being able to breathe when he woke up and learned that Chihiro had gone to apologize to Zeniba for him. Yet when he had made the deal with Yubaba to get Chihiro home, there had been no fear at all, not even a hint. Letting her hand slip away, telling her not to look back, feeling his chest crush his heart, that pain was exactly the same as when he thought of his river. It was the hardest thing he had ever done. And the thought of her had kept him alive on more than one occasion. Was that love?

The water heard his convoluted thoughts. It bubbled and swirled around him, worried, soothing him. _We'll keep her safe together, right?_ The spring fervently agreed in a way only water can. Haku laughed softly at its eagerness. The spring was nothing like his river. He was never going to get his river back, but maybe it would be okay. He rose toward the moonlight, his white muzzle breaking the smooth surface of the water and his sinuous body following suit. The water was eager and knew what he wanted it to do. Before Haku could even ask, it rose up and encased Haku like a bud, a flower. It had a guardian now. When the globe of water finally collapsed, Haku was nowhere to be seen.

Inside the house, Zeniba smiled.

* * *

Haku didn't come back in that night or the next night. Zeniba told Chihiro not to worry, but it was lonely. She liked Zeniba, but she couldn't get used to talking to someone she couldn't see. By the dawn of the third day, she had finished the scarf. She set the needles in the basket and walked through Haku's bedroom into the swamp and sat down at the edge of the spring. The water hadn't talked to her since that first evening, and she was beginning to think that it had been her overactive imagination.

The moon was setting, low in the sky, casting its light and shadows of trees across the surface of the water. A flock of snow geese flew through the reflection. Chihiro dipped her fingers into the spring, sending ripples through the images. A sense of deep belonging and contentment came over her.

Are you happy? she asked the water silently.

In reply the water bubbled around her fingers excitedly. She got the feeling that the spring wanted to show her something. Something had happened. The best thing. The bubbling soon became frothing and then churning. Amidst the churning a great white dragon rose out of the water. Chihiro snapped her eyes shut as pain seemed to cleave her head in two and she nearly fell into the spring.

Strong arms caught her. Strong, dry arms that seemed familiar and safe caught her and held her until the pain finally faded into sleep.


	12. Chapter 10 - Separation Anxiety

**Chapter 10: Separation Anxiety**

Time disappeared. Slow consciousness pooled at the surface and seeped down into fissures and crevices, deeper and deeper, caressing the rocky walls as it went, brushing the smoothened stone and penetrating the small cracks in the rocky face. And then the spring settled, the consciousness of its new master having spread through every corner. And it was calm. there was no longer a boundary between Haku and the spring. They were one, with no edges. The spring had a soul again.

Deep in the earth, where water met fire, Haku awoke. He felt a touch on his skin, one that he recognized. It was her. He rose through the channels within the layers of bedrock beneath the swamp, wearing smooth the tunnels as he did. He hit the surface and formed a body for himself to greet his visitor, the one he knew. She was sitting on his banks, and as he rose into the air she turned toward him. Her eyes met his and he thought he saw a hint of a smile before they snapped shut.

The dragon collapsed into nothing and around Chihiro's feet the human Haku rose up from the surface of the spring and caught her before her body could hit the water. The spring clung to him, unwilling to let him go so soon after adoption. He took the time to comfort it before firmly shooing the water from Chihiro's clothes and hair, as well as his own. He held her and breathed in her scent until she fell asleep, marveling at such senses as sight and smell, of which the spring knew nothing. He lifted her up, and carried her back to the house.

* * *

Chihiro dreamt of blood dripping down her sides. _Stop! Why are you doing this? Your family needs you. Your daughter is waiting for you to come home. No! Go home, damn it, live! She pleaded with him helplessly. It was no use. The scent of death permeated the forest. Blood stained the earth. He had been a happy child once, had played where his body now lay. She vomited as she cried, sick to her stomach from grief and horror._

Chihiro curled up in the bed, wrapping the blankets tighter around herself. Her heart felt torn to pieces. _It's only a bad dream,_ she told herself. _A nightmare._ But this thought wasn't as reassuring as it used to be. For all she knew, it had really happened, and the curse had made her forget. She opened her eyes. She was in Haku's room, _in Haku's bed,_ she thought. She pushed herself up, sitting against the carved headboard, and looked around. The lamps on the bedside tables were dimly lit. Haku was sitting in the armchair in the corner, marking the page in the book he was reading. He looked up at her.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" Chihiro asked. "I was just taking a walk by the spring, and there was nothing in the water, and then…"

"Please don't force yourself to remember," Haku stood up as she grimaced.

Chihiro ignored him. "You came out of the spring. You were a dragon." The image of the great white serpent rising from the pool had already begun to blur in her mind but she held onto the newfound knowledge fiercely. _It was all real. The myths were real. The boy standing in front of her was a dragon._

"Yes," Haku said. "I triggered the spell. I should have been more careful. We had hoped my dragon form would be different enough that you wouldn't recognize it, the way my human form is."

"That's not likely," Chihiro said, turning to face Haku. Her legs dangled off the side of the bed.

"No, I suppose not," Haku said.

"But I think… you _did_ look different," Chihiro said. She could not picture the dragon anymore, but she remembered clearly the feeling that something had changed. "I've seen you as a dragon? Before?"

Haku shook his head. "Fighting the spell will just hurt you. It's not worth it."

"It's worth it to me," Chihiro snapped. "These memories, they're inside of me somewhere, and unless I find them, I can't be sure I was ever this girl that you Zeniba and everyone claim that you know."

Haku looked up at her determined expression. "You haven't lost the person you used to be," Haku said. "She grew into the person you are now. You, now, not the Chihiro of seven years ago, are who they want." He stood up. "You should get ready. Shika will be here soon."

"I thought I was leaving with you?" Chihiro said, startled.

"That's not possible, with the effect my dragon shape has on you," Haku said. He led the way into the living room.

Shika was sitting at the large wooden table. He grinned when he saw them. "What have you naughty lovebirds been up to, and under Granny Zeniba's roof?"

Chihiro turned bright red and threw a glare in his direction.

Haku ignored it. "Shika," he said. "A change of plans. You have to take her to the palace."

"What?" Shika said, startled.

"My dragon shape is too familiar. Her mind can't handle it. There's no way I can take her to the palace."

"How do I get her inside?"

"I'll meet you there. I'll distract _him_ while you go."

"Do you realize how risky this is going to be? We're going to have to cross over. I can't go there straight, and we'll have to linger somewhere. That'll be a perfect time for him to find us."

Chihiro interrupted. "Wait. You're going to try to attract his attention on purpose? You two have been saying this entire time how dangerous it would be if Ak-"

Haku's hand was over her mouth before she finished saying the name. "Not here," he said. "Even with the ward that Zeniba has around this place, it's still not safe. In the human world, or when telling a story, he likely won't pay attention. But he will definitely hear you here. Names have a lot of power in this world." Chihiro nodded. "And yes, I am. It's more important that you get to the palace, with or without me. You'll be safe there. Safer than here. That's what matters."

"Be realistic, Haku," Shika said. "We're not likely to get an audience without you, what with your brother under _his_ influence."

"Nonetheless," Haku began.

"I know, I know, you have to go be manly and save the day," Shika interrupted. "Sorry, I meant _dragonly_." Chihiro giggled helplessly.

"Relax," Shika said, seeing Haku's annoyed look. "We know that you can take care of yourself. But it would be best if we could figure out a way for you to signal us in the human world from here, so we can leave at the last possible minute to meet you at the palace."

Haku sighed. "It's simple enough, really," he said. He touched the back of his neck and when his hand came away, a large white scale had appeared in it. When he turned to hand it to Shika, Chihiro could see a raw patch on his skin where he had touched it. As she watched, the wound became a tiny white scar, which quickly disappeared. "It's the only foolproof way," Haku explained. "It allows us to speak mind to mind."

Shika hesitated. "It also allows the holder access to his essence at any time," Shika said. "It makes him vulnerable to the will of the holder. Are you sure?"

"Nothing you can do with this will matter if this doesn't work," Haku said crossly. He shook his head at Chihiro as she opened her mouth to protest. "Yes, I'm sure. Stop making a fuss."

Instead of his usual teasing reply, Shika bowed to Haku, deeply and respectfully, and then pocketed the scale.

Haku scowled. "Just keep her safe," he ordered.

* * *

Chihiro brooded as she returned from a walk around the house. Seeing the spring had brought back the dream of the dead man in the forest. She wondered who he was, and where he had died. She entered the living room to find a clone of herself sitting at the table. She stared at her made-up, jean short and crop top clad self. Chihiro remembered putting on makeup and clothing like that as if in a past life. She couldn't imagine it now. She had learned to love the blue kimono in the three days she had stayed in Zeniba's cabin. It reminded her of the way of life in Risuni's little village.

The front door opened and Shika walked in, bringing a small smile to Chihiro's face. Shika's dark hair was spiked, and he was wearing torn jeans and a leather jacket. He grinned at her and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his jacket. "How do I look?" he said, propping the sunglasses up on his head and striking a pose. Chihiro only shook her head. The dream was still too fresh on her mind. Shika raised an eyebrow at her silence. "What's eating you?" he asked. Before Chihiro could answer, Haku walked in.

There was little talk at breakfast. Haku and Chihiro were each lost in their own thoughts, and neither responded to Shika's attempts at cheerful conversation.

After they ate, Chihiro changed into jeans and a t-shirt. _My human clothes,_ she thought. Before she knew it, it was time to leave.

She stopped Haku as he led her doppelganger to the door. _It can't be normal to feel jealous of oneself,_ she thought, _particularly as she isn't real._

"Stay safe," she said.

In response, Haku embraced her. Tightly. She was too surprised to hug him back. He was so warm. When she opened her eyes, he had disappeared through the door. The windows rattled as he took off.

"What do you know," Shika remarked. "I always thought dragons were made of ice like their palace."

Chihiro managed a weak smile.

The wind had only died down for a moment when the leaves were whistling again. From the window they saw the tengu in the form of a large black bird flying over the trees, going the same way that Haku had.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Chihiro said, without much hope.

"We have to assume that they knew we were here," Shika said.

"Will he be okay?" Chihiro said.

Shika looked at her and smiled. "He's a _dragon,_ remember? You should be worrying about _us._ Let's go, before it gets back."

Chihiro had never ridden a horse before. Shika stood patiently as Chihiro clambered onto his back, feeling like a klutz. Through the window, Chihiro saw that Shika had called the fog all the way to the door. The moment they stepped outside Shika was galloping full speed into it. Chihiro had no idea how to brace herself. She clung to Shika's neck for dear life, almost lying flat.

"I thought no one else could get in here?" Chihiro asked, when the fog had fully thickened and still Shika didn't slow down. He shook his head, nearly swiping Chihiro off his back with his antlers. She grabbed ahold of them and pulled herself up until she was sitting upright and could see. To their left, there was a sliver of red in the fog, keeping pace with them. No doubt Shika had seen that they weren't alone. He didn't resume human form until the fog had almost thinned completely.

They walked out into Ueno Park, right into the middle of a crowd. Mount Fuji had been quiet since Chihiro had gone to the Spirit World, and Tokyo had been prepared. The city looked largely back to normal. Even though a thin layer of ash still carpeted the ground, everyone was out trying to enjoy the last of the cherry blossoms. Chihiro took it all in: the chatter of the people all around her, the slight tang of smog, the high-rises she remembered fondly from her childhood trips to Tokyo.

"Wow," Shika said, grimacing. "How do people live like this?" He jumped out of the way as two little boys barreled past, chasing each other and yelling at the top of their lungs. They wandered through the people, trying to get their bearings.

"Have you never been to the city before?" Chihiro asked.

"I must confess that I never have," Shika replied. "I don't find that I care for it." An old couple taking a walk glared at him as they passed, finding something about his appearance - probably the hair - offensive. He wished Risuni hadn't chosen an outfit so fashion forward.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Chihiro said. "Now all we have to do is wait for Haku's signal, right? Is there anywhere we should go in the meantime?"

"Is there anywhere we would feel less… out of place?" Shika asked, uncomfortable with the stares pointed his way.

"The mall?" Chihiro suggested.

They headed down the largest street they could find, and soon came to an indoor shopping center filled with people their age. They wandered together through the crowded hallways, Chihiro explaining trends and the contents of ads. People pushed against them as Chihiro tried to explain the excitement of the crowd lined up in front of an Apple store. Shika grabbed her hand. "Well, what do you think?" Chihiro asked. He didn't answer. "What's the matter?" She turned around. "Shika?" No one gripped her hand. No one was there.

He wasn't in the crowd. She was alone. Chihiro felt claustrophobic. The crowd pressed in on every side, shouting happy, meaningless jibber-jabber. She stared blankly at them, paralyzed, as they came at her in waves. Sound washed over her, roaring in her ears. She was in a sea of blank, monstrous faces. The air was stifling, there were too many people breathing, _were they using up all the oxygen?_

"Chihiro!" Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and spun around. A girl stood in front of her. "Hellooo! Earth to Chihiro!" The girl was waving a hand in front of Chihiro's eyes. Her face slowly came into focus. She looked familiar.

"Yumi?" A girl from school.

"Duh." Yumi stared at her. "Dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Chihiro said, still dazed. "I'm okay."

"You don't _look_ okay," Yumi said. "C'mon. We were just about to get some coffee. It'll pick you right up. Are you here with anyone? What are you doing here?"

Chihiro let herself be dragged along by Yumi and her new boyfriend through the crowd, nodding absentmindedly to Yumi's chatter. A spot of red flickered at the corner of her vision. She turned to look, but it was only a girl with red hair.

"Chihiro, let's go in there. You look terrible. Helloooo! Are you even listening to me?" Yumi waved a hand in front of Chihiro's face.

Chihiro looked up. Starbucks. A hot drink sounded wonderful. Yumi opened the door and led the way into the coffee shop.

"Just go sit down," she said. "I'll order. The usual?" Chihiro nodded as Yumi's boyfriend helped her to a table. _I have to pull myself together,_ Chihiro thought. _But Shika. What could have happened?_ Yumi was walking toward them with their coffees. Chihiro tried to think of a story she could tell Yumi, but her mind was still sluggish.

"Here you go," Yumi said, handing Chihiro a vanilla latte and kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. "I don't know why you insist on drowning your coffee in so much sugar and cream, but to each her own." She took a long pull of her own black coffee before sitting down.

"Thanks, Yumi," Chihiro said wearily. "I owe you one." She took a sip. The coffee didn't taste any different than usual, but Chihiro found it nauseating. She tried again and almost gagged. It was disgusting. She spat the mouthful back into the cup and set it down. Her purple hair tie shimmered on her wrist. She had forgotten that she was still wearing it.

Yumi waved off the thanks. "I knew the coffee would help. Now you sound more like yourself. What happened? It was the earthquake, wasn't it? It took a lot out of all of us." Chihiro was grateful for the lead. She told Yumi how her mom had broken her leg and had been airlifted to the hospital there in Tokyo as Yumi nodded sympathetically. She told Chihiro that "my parents are staying in Tokyo too" and "we should hang out" and asked Chihiro which school she was going to and whether she had decided on a university. Chihiro tried to keep up as best she could.

Suddenly, Yumi changed the subject. "Oh! We found this _adorable_ little shop yesterday. I really want to show you, you'll love it."

Chihiro blinked. "Okay." Yumi's boyfriend looked briefly surprised, then nodded.

They left the Starbucks and walked into the street. Yumi led Chihiro up one street and down another, and finally into a narrow alley. At the end was a little stationery shop, one of those tourist traps. Through the window, Chihiro saw pink pencil cases and Hello Kitty plushes. _Yumi thought I would like this?_ thought Chihiro. _There must be thousands of them in Tokyo._

They opened the door with a little tinkle of the bell. In the back, Chihiro caught sight of a red-haired woman behind the counter. She looked familiar. _The red-headed bartender from Starbucks! And the girl in the crowd! She was following us the whole time!_ Then she realized that the whole time they were walking from Starbucks, Yumi hadn't said a word. She kicked herself mentally for not noticing.

Before she could turn back, Yumi crumpled in front of her. Behind her, she heard the thump of another body falling on to the floor. Chihiro didn't even have time to scream before she too was unconscious.

The woman behind the counter walked over to the two girls now lying as though dead on the floor of the shop. A purple hair tie gleamed on the wrist of one of them. She was the right one. The boss was going to reward her well for this. She beckoned, and Chihiro rose to her feet as though controlled by puppet strings. Her eyes were still closed. The red-haired woman led the unconscious Chihiro through a door in the back of the shop and into a thick fog. With a last tinkle of the bell, the shop disappeared.


	13. Chapter 11 - The Nature of Dragons

**A/N: Hi everyone, I have a huge favor to ask! In return, you get this chapter two days early! :)**

 **One of you suggested that I enter the fanfic novel context over at inkitt dot com (inkitt dot com slash fandom2). If you've read this far, I hope you'll consider voting for The Other World in that contest. You may have to scroll a bit to find it, but I hope that you think this story is worth your support. As the deadline for the contest is Dec. 22, you can also expect chapters to be posted more often, if we can get enough votes on the story to make the top 10%. Thank you again for reading, and for all of your comments and love through these past few years!**

 **-Swansae**

* * *

 **Part 3: Walking Alone**

 _The road you lit up,_

 _Right now, I'm walking alone._

 _Let's turn straight ahead_

 _and never stop._

 _Reprise l. 9-12_

 **Chapter 11: The Nature of Dragons**

Haku rose up through the leaves and above the clouds, sighting through the gaps the line of the railroad on the ground. Wind streamed through his mane and along his sinuous body. The soft disturbances in the air currents from the flapping of giant wings told him the exact location of the tengu far below, trailing him just beneath the thick canopy of the trees. Haku ground his teeth. He wanted to turn around, to confront the bird that dare hunt him, to fight. It didn't feel right to do nothing.

Still, he maintained the facade of ignorance. It was frustrating, but if the illusion on his back had been the real Chihiro, he would never fly her head on into danger. Haku mentally shook his head at the clumsiness of the creature following him. Whoever had sent it clearly had not done his research. Even if Haku could not feel its presence on the eddies in the air, he could hear the birds in the canopy below gossiping loudly as it passed.

The trees below gradually thinned into plains. Aburaya appeared on the horizon. The tengu lagged behind, trying to stay in the cover of the trees, and when that became impossible, flew close to the ground, keep the clouds between it and its prey. Haku found its efforts painfully futile. He wondered briefly how a man with such blundering fools as servants managed to get anything done.

By the time they reached the bathhouse, the tengu had become confident that the white dragon above him was either blind and deaf or an idiot. It hid behind a tree as Haku descended toward the bridge to cries of "Welcome back, Master Haku!" He transformed into human form, wearing his full royal regalia, and helped the illusion land gently before the double doors. He made a show of escorting the fake Chihiro inside. As he entered the bathhouse, he saw the dark shadow hurrying through the streets of the town toward. them.

Chihiro's illusion dissolved as soon as they stepped into the bathhouse. Yubaba did not take kindly to foreign magics in her territory. Haku acted as if nothing was amiss. He called for a bath, pretending to be a guest. As the yuna servicewomen bustled about fetching perfumes and bath oils, he beckoned to Lin, who was watching from a corner with a bemused smile.

"I'm being followed," he said as an explanation. "Distract him, will you, when he comes." He touched her wrist, transmitting to her the image of the large black bird with the hooked beak.

Lin raised her eyebrows skeptically. "You don't need to involve me in this," she said.

At that moment, a horde of yuna came to proclaim his bath ready, and pulled him away from Lin toward the tub with much chatter. Haku did not bother to undress. He simply stepped into the tub and melted into the water. Seeing that the tub might as well have been empty, the yuna expressed their disappointment, then gradually wandered away to tend to other tasks.

The tub was confining. After just two days Haku was already used to the size of the spring, with all its nooks and crannies. He wanted to disperse himself. The air in the bathing hall was thick with steam. Haku let himself float upward to join the water vapor hanging heavy in the air. There, he was aware of the movement of each workers and guest. He found the tengu in the entryway in the midst of the other guests. It had taken a human-like shape, with a long nose and a heavy cloak.

He heard Lin's voice welcome the tengu, who was immediately surrounded by a gaggle of yuna and led to a far tub. It didn't protest, but placed its arms around the waists of two of the girls as they walked. The yuna's giggles filled the air.

Another guest called for his tub to be refilled. Haku drifted over slowly toward the voice. As the perfumed water gushed into the tub, he pulled himself up into the wooden chute. He followed the twisted pipes against the torrent of water until he came to the boiler room.

It felt so good, so right to be water. It took him some time to find all of the scattered bits of himself and pull them together again, into a solid body.

* * *

Shika felt his grip on Chihiro fade. His fingers became insubstantial. A familiar sensation pulled him into the fog. It demanded that he return home immediately. He swore to himself. His parents had the worst timing. _Don't panic, Chihiro._ Shika thought. _Please, don't panic. I'll be back as soon as I can._

He walked out of the fog into an underwater grotto. He was fuming, but he knew that if he showed he was angry, this would only take longer.

"Shika," said a lilting voice from deep within the cave. "Why have you allowed your shrine to come to ruin?"

 _Mother_. He gritted his teeth. They hadn't even seen him yet, and already they were nagging. It was always the same. Always this.

Shika ducked around a stone pillar into a small cavern. A beautiful couple stood there, smiling at him. They had dressed up for the occasion. That couldn't be good. Shika bowed to them and tried his best to keep the sarcasm from his voice. "Hello Mother, Father. I am here, as summoned." _What do you want?_

"My son," Father said, "we have decided that it is time to choose a bride for you." Shika's stared up at them, speechless. He forgot to rise from his bow.

"With a wife, you could settle down and finally find your place in the world," Mother said soothingly.

" _That's_ why you called me here?" Shika demanded, no longer feeling generous enough to fake a smile. "Now is _not_ a good time for this. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on. I have no intention of mating anytime soon, and if I did, I'm perfectly capable of choosing my own mate!"

"You will _not_ speak to your mother that way," Father thundered. "The war is of no consequence. Leave it to Tenryu and others who know what they're doing. And before you even think about it, no son of mine is going to marry a human brat."

"Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi is involved now. He'll take care of it, dear. You've played your part, I'm sure."

"I'm _not_ a child anymore, Mother!"

"Exactly. It's time for you to settle down. We want you to at least meet the girl." Mother said. "You two are a perfect match. You'll like her."

"You're not giving me much of a choice."

"She'll join us for dinner tomorrow evening. You will stay here until then, to guarantee that you will be present. We expect you to be on your best behavior, else _you_ can expect to be here for the next ten years."

Shika stared at him in horror until the cavern door closed, and long after his parents had disappeared into the dark. What was the human word for this? "Grounded?" No matter how much he protested, they still treated him like a child. He felt in his pocket for the large white scale Haku had given him before they had set out on this mission, which now seemed doomed to failure.

* * *

A red wooden bath token dropped down from the ceiling with a clatter, and hung there, spinning, from its ribbon. Kamaji pounded his wooden mallet against the wheel, and sootballs streamed from their holes in the wall, carrying their burdens of coal. He turned the wheel with one arm, extended another arm back along the wall, and with yet another arm pulled the token closer to his face to read it. There was a note clipped to it in Lin's handwriting. It read "a bath for a special guest." He turned it over, scrutinizing it, but there was nothing written on the back. The squeaking of the soot sprites grew louder. "Shut up!" he growled, looking up from the bath token and glaring at the soot sprites. They were bouncing in excitement. "Get back to work!"

"Grandfather," Haku called from his perch on top of the boiler.

Kamaji looked up, craning his neck. "Haku!" he exclaimed in surprise. Then he looked back to the note he held in his hand. "Do you have something to do with this?"

"Our guest is badly in need of rest, Grandfather," Haku said, all sincerity. "I'd prefer that he slept through my departure."

Kamaji chuckled. One long arm snaked out to the wall behind him for an herb that would cause deep sleep, and added it to the water. "When did you get to be so cunning, Haku?" he asked.

Haku stepped off the boiler onto the ground as if he weren't thirty feet off the ground, and landed lightly. He bowed to Kamaji. "Hello, Grandfather."

"It's good to see you again, Haku."

The low partition slid open and Lin came in with a basket of the colorful star candies the sootballs loved. It was about lunchtime anyway. She crouched at the edge of the raised wooden floor, scattering the candies to the sprites. "Haku," she said, glaring at him. "You owe me big time. He was such a creep. Why was he trailing you, anyway? Where's Chihiro?"

"It's good to see you, too, Lin," he replied. "How's our guest?"

"I think one of the girls may actually not be disappointed tonight."

"You'll have to thank them for me."

"You don't actually want to do that. You'll give them ideas."

"Thank _you_ , then."

"As well you should. My dignity…"

 _HAKU._ Haku looked around, but no one had screamed his name. _Haku!_ The skin on his neck prickled. The voice was in his head. And then he realized where it came from.

 _Shika,_ he acknowledged.

 _We'd just gotten to Tokyo and then my_ parents _pulled me out. They've locked me in the cave._ The frustration Shika was projecting was palpable.

 _You mean you left her alone?_ Haku snarled.

 _Worse. Someone followed us through the mist. He, she, it was in Tokyo with us. I caught a glimpse._

 _How long ago?_

 _Maybe an hour. Less. Haku, you can't go after her. You're too conspicuous, and we have no idea where she would be by now._

 _You've done enough. I'll take care of it. She better come out of this alive._

 _I'm sorry._

Haku cut off the connection and turned to Lin and Kamaji, eyes burning. Power shot out from his body through the water in the bathhouse. On the floor above, guests suddenly complained that their baths were too hot. Both yuna and the frog-shaped aogaeru scurried about, bowing and scraping, and fetching cold water. In the tengu's booth, water found its way into the sleeping tengu's mouth and nose, and into its lungs. The nearby yuna squeaked as the tengu flailed briefly, and then vanished. They looked at each other, and then drained the tub and waved the next guest over.

"Haku, what happened?" Lin exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Zeniba told you both about the plan?" Haku asked.

Lin nodded.

"That bird was watching us at Swamp Bottom. I led it here so that Shika and Chihiro could cross the border without being seen. And now he's left her _alone_ in Tokyo. We've lost her."

The partition opened again. The foreman appeared on the other side. "Master Haku," he said. "Yubaba wants to see you."

* * *

Haku stood in front of Yubaba's desk in the familiar office. It had been years since he'd last been here, but the room looked exactly the same. The only changes were that he now loomed over Yubaba's short stature, and that he was no longer under her control.

"What are you doing here?" Yubaba snapped at him. "How dare you show up and disrupt our service to our customers?"

"There is a war going on out there, did you know?" Haku snapped back. "Are you feeling comfortable here, selling your services to those fleeing the human world?"

"You dare speak to me that way?" Yubaba said.

"I'm not afraid of you," Haku said. He felt his power flare out from him again in his anger, and relished it. He had lived so long without it.

Yubaba slammed the air toward him in a fluid motion, the rushing air punched him back into the fireplace, dousing the fire. Bricks fell loose from the chimney. "Control yourself," Yubaba snarled. "I don't know how you got your powers back, but you are still no match for me. Do not presume you understand the situation here. I expect better from a former apprentice. Now leave. You are not welcome here."


	14. Chapter 12 - Kitsune

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has voted for this story on the inkitt fanfiction novel contest! (Please keep voting if you haven't at inkitt dot com slash fandom2, scroll down to find The Other World.) As a token of my appreciation, here's another chapter early :)**

 _A little girl wandered the forest, crying for her parents. Chihiro appeared before her and took the girl by the hand. She did not have the body she was used to. Her hands were older and the skin cracked and hardened from wind and cold, and her body beneath the heavy robe she wore was weary. The girl's hand, still chubby with baby fat, felt smooth and soft on her own. She bent before the girl and wiped away her tears with a bell-shaped sleeve, and then led the girl up the mountain. The girl would not survive. Her parents weren't coming back. They couldn't afford to feed both her and her baby brother, and they'd wanted a boy. The girl was too young to understand. Some of them, a little older but still only seven or eight, came knowing what was happening. Knowing they were being abandoned by their loved ones. The parents were sometimes crying, too, as they said goodbye to their daughters, leaving them in the care of the mountain spirit. Sometimes they left the old ones as well. The grandparents who were too old to work for their keep._

 _The spirit of the forest spent all of her time crying now, and never came out, so Chihiro wandered the forest day after day in her stead. She couldn't take them all in. She could only comfort them and release their spirits in their sleep, as painlessly as possible._

Chihiro woke to darkness. She sat up slowly, the dream burning bright in her mind. She thought she knew who she had been, in the dream. It wasn't the first time she'd seen through his eyes. It had felt the same this time, only wearier. He was older. And the girl, the forest spirit in his mind, whoever she was, she was sick. _I have to find them. It's not his fault, or her fault either. The man who committed suicide, it's too late to save him. And the girl on the mountainside just now, it's too late for her too. But the mountain, and the forest. Maybe I can still help_ them _._

Chihiro put her hands out and felt around her. Her fingertips met a rough stone wall. As her eyes adjusted, a single thin line of light appeared beneath what she could only assume was the door. Beyond that door, there were voices. One of them sounded male.

"You have done well, my dear, to bring me the girl." The voice was soft and cold, sending shivers down Chihiro's spine.

"Thank you, Master," said a meek voice. A woman's voice.

 _Master. That was Akuma talking, then?_

"I am not finished," the cold voice snapped. "You left witnesses. You were _fully aware_ that there were witnesses, yet you did not take care of them as soon as you were aware of their presence."

 _He must mean Yumi and her boyfriend,_ Chihiro thought. _Please let them be okay._

"But they were innocent!" the woman protested.

"They _saw_ ," the cold voice hissed. There was a little strangled noise, then the thump of a body hitting the ground. Chihiro muffled a gasp. Over the woman's ragged breathing, the voice continued, softly: "It is no matter. Their memories have been erased. As your reward for bringing me the girl, I will indulge in your silly notions of _innocence._ " He spat out the word 'innocence' like it was poison.

Suddenly, his voice was sweet again. Chihiro found this even more frightening than when the voice was cruel. At least the cruelty was honest. "What are you doing on the floor, my dear Kitsune? It's time to prepare the spell. She'll need it within the hour, and we want to take good care of her, don't we?"

The woman picked herself up with a rustle of silk. "Yes, Master." She walked away, her footsteps uneven and echoing slightly. Stronger footsteps strode off in the opposite direction.

Chihiro listened carefully for any other movement on the other side of the door, but heard nothing. So after a while, she got up carefully, and pushed gently on the door. It moved. Chihiro drew her hand back. She hadn't expected it to actually open. Before her imagination could fill her mind with nightmares, she pushed open the door. Its weight resisted her slightly but it opened without creaking. The room beyond could've been any traditional Japanese study. It was dark, a single lamp cast shadows from the desk, but Chihiro could tell without seeing that the quality of the furnishings was higher than anything she'd seen before. Everything just seemed perfect, like it had grown that way. Another door nearby revealed a bright hallway leading to the rest of… wherever she was.

In the end what drew Chihiro through the doorway were the bookshelves that lined the study's walls. She was picking her way across the floor when she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around. The red-haired bartender and stationary store-keeper stood silhouetted in the doorway, looking just as stunned as Chihiro felt. She carried a tray.

"You're not supposed to be out here," the woman whispered. The tray shook in her hands.

"Kitsune," Chihiro whispered back. The woman flinched. "You shouldn't let anybody treat you that way."

The woman, Kitsune, placed the tray on a table and closed the door behind her. As she turned, the light outside the room illuminated her face, and Chihiro saw a dark bruise spreading up from her neck where she had been strangled.

"Why do you serve him, if he just hurts you? You deserve better than that," Chihiro said softly when the door closed.

"And serving humans is better?" Kitsune said. Then the anger faded from her face, and she sighed. "I don't have any choice," she said. "I'm sorry about your friends. I hope they're safe."

"You can always choose again. As can humans. As some of us have," Chihiro said.

Kitsune shook her head. "Go back in there, and eat some of this. You must be hungry." She picked up the tray and herded Chihiro back into the cell with it. In the faint light from the lamp, Chihiro could see a small mat at the back of the cell meant for a bed and a bucket in the corner. A candle in its stand stood in another corner. Kitsune handed the tray to Chihiro. There was a bowl of rice on it, topped with something. "It's only sleeping potion," she said, as if to reassure Chihiro. She lit the candle. Then she touched Chihiro's arm, whether in appreciation or apprehension Chihiro couldn't tell, and left. The door closed behind her. Chihiro touched it. It wasn't locked.

Chihiro looked at the food. It smelled good. She was starving. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, and she didn't know how long ago it was that she last ate. So she ate it, and then she slept. Kitsune had told the truth – it was only a sleeping spell.

* * *

Haku was frightened. Not of Yubaba, no. She cared about Chihiro in her own way, though not more than she cared about the money coming in. She would come around. Besides, she was right. He didn't know the first thing about using the powers he now had. He would not be so overconfident now. No. He was frightened of himself. He hadn't realized the effect his anger would have on the water around him until he had felt the tengu die, and it frightened him how satisfying it had felt. _Did all dragons feel so… feral?_ he wondered.

He followed the bathwater into the river, where the ferry was carrying its third load of passengers of the night into the spirit world. Still more spirits were queued at next to the North Gate, waiting for the boat to take them to the vibrant town that had sprung up at the crossing point. He wove through the emigrants into the Human World.

It hadn't been real to him until this moment, crossing the Gate where an impenetrable barrier had met him years before, that he had a home again.

Past the Gate, he was alone. Lesser spirits could not assume physical forms in the human world, except as the object or animal they embodied. Only the kami, the spirits of the earth, were able to, and even then often chose not to.

Haku felt the breeze on his face. Remembering his last encounter with a wind sister – aurai, the Greeks called them - he held out his hand. This one was older and more cautious than the first. It touched Haku's hand, darted to his face, back to his hand, and circled around. Haku stood patiently. It reminded Haku of the little silvery fish that lived in his river before… Haku stopped the thought. It was still too raw a memory, even now. He took a deep breath, calming himself. He could not afford to scare the wind sister away.

"Sister wind," Haku said. The wind blew into the treetops in fright, making the leaves rustle. "I won't hurt you. I just want to talk to you."

The leaves rustled again to show that the wind was still there, listening.

"I need to know what happened to a dear friend of mine – a girl named Chihiro who was in Ueno Park earlier today, in Tokyo. Will you help?"

There was a strong wind and then the air was still. The wind had left. Whether it would return remained to be seen. Having done all he could, Haku sat down against the stone guardian statue, where eons ago it seemed, he had found Chihiro sitting there, asleep, to wait.

* * *

 _In the forest, a ring of children holding hands laughed and sang some nursery rhyme as they ran. The forest was still young. Chihiro could almost see the leaves on the saplings growing as the children sang. The mountain rose up behind her, and beyond the forest was the village where many of the children came from._ Chihiro, even in the dream, was lucid enough to recognize the place, though it must have been thousands of years before the other dreams. She had seen it in recently enough in the news. It was almost as much a symbol of Japan as the rising sun on the flag. And she was the soul of this place. _The littlest girl ran up to Chihiro and took her hand. "Oniisan!" she said with a wide smile, and pulled Chihiro up to the circle. "Play with us!" The other children bowed, but then lost their formality and they ran and played and laughed, even though they had to crane their necks to look up at her, she was one of them. They were friends. Friends._ Chihiro was shocked by the joy that ran through her at the thought.

 _Then the sky darkened and it started to rain. The other children (human children, Chihiro realized) ran down the mountain with their arms over their heads, shrieking. They left Chihiro and the little girl alone on the mountainside. "Mommy," the girl pouted, "we were playing!" A woman formed out of the rain and scooped up the girl into her arms. "The plants are thirsty," she said. "Weren't you thirsty, Aokigahara?" "I guess so," admitted the girl, looking around at the little trees. "And if the plants are thirsty, then your friends won't have anything to eat during the winter." The woman took Chihiro's (still young, Chihiro noticed) hand with her left hand, held Aokigahara in her right, and together they walked up the mountain._

Chihiro woke up, feeling a powerful sense of deja vu. The woman had been beautiful and kind. She had been wearing a long flowing kimono that reminded Chihiro of another she'd seen before… Chihiro had seen that exact image once before, when Haku had been telling her about… _his mother. Was that his mother? She was a rain spirit then. And the little girl. That would make her Haku's sister._ _Aokigahara._ She had heard that name somewhere before, perhaps in class?

Then she realized that she had learned it by another name, that it was the name of the forest, and she knew why the forest's spirit was sick. She couldn't stay in this room. She had to go talk to Fujisan.

* * *

Shika's parents returned to make sure he was properly dressed about an hour before "dinner." They had prepared a feast that even Yubaba would envy. Shika felt sick. It wasn't even because there was nothing green on the table. It was the sheer extravagance. This was precisely the reason he and his parents didn't get along. He hated trying to impress people and playing host and guest. But still, he found himself in a formal green kimono and bowing as she came in the door. Her parents followed.

Even though Shika was feeling antagonistic toward the whole situation, he could not deny that she was beautiful. And familiar. Was it something about her face? Shika was sure he had seen her somewhere before. Was she one of Risuni's friends, or maybe he had met her once at court? He stared at her in confusion all throughout dinner, saying the right things at the right times to both sets of parents without having to think much about it. She did the opposite, and kept her gaze down at her food. Shika's parents watched this in approval - their son was showing interest and the girl was properly modest – so after the meal, the parents decided to leave the two young people alone while they retired elsewhere to talk. By that point, all of Shika's antagonistic feelings had died away.

"Have we met before?" Shika asked, once they were alone. He had completely missed the introduction in the haze of trying to figure out who she was.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, still refusing to look at him.

"For what?" he asked, confused.

She took a deep breath and looked straight at Shika. "I was at Swamp Bottom. I followed you and Chihiro into the haze. I followed her after you left and put a spell in her and her friends' drinks to get them away from the crowd. And then I took her to _him._ " All of the breath went out of her in an instant. "I didn't know."

Her candor astonished Shika. He finally recognized the color of her bright red hair. "What didn't you know?" Shika asked after a long pause.

"Everything," she said. "I didn't know what humans were like. I didn't know that she would understand me. I had know idea she would _care_. And he's planning to close the Gate! I never would've done it, if I'd known. I shouldn't've overheard this at all, but he wants to sever the worlds completely. You probably don't believe me. I didn't think it was possible, I just wanted… I mean, I might have wanted that fifty years ago, when they were cutting down my trees." She shuddered. "I thought I would die for certain. But after I talked to Chihiro I checked, and they've been slowly planting them back. The little ones aren't doing so well, since I've been absent... I can't just leave them!"

Shika knew how easy it was for a forest spirit to talk tenderly and endlessly about each and every one of the trees and animals in his forest, from personal experience, and appreciated that she left off there.

"What did you think would happen, if you helped him?" he said.

She wrung her hands. "I don't know. My parents suggested it. The humans killed my brother. And he was so persuasive. I thought he could keep me safe. You're a forest too. You have to understand. They were cutting down my trees. They're like children to me. More than children."

Shika nodded. "In that case," he said. "Will you help me? You said you talked to Chihiro."

She nodded.

The voices of the parents in another part of the cave reminded them that they weren't completely alone, and they had talked in low voices. Now the intonation of these voices told them that the parents were concluding their conversation.

"How can I get in touch with you?" Shika whispered.

"I'll meet you in the void. Tomorrow evening," the girl whispered back. She stood up to leave.

"Wait," Shika said, rising as well. "I don't know your name."

"Kitsune," she said.

"I'm Shika," Shika said.

Kitsune smiled. "I know."

* * *

Haku opened his eyes. His hair billowed in the lively breeze. The wind sister was back. A small rabbit was snuffled at his feet.

"Do you have news for me, sister wind?" Haku said. The wind blew harder, knocking the little rabbit head over heels.

"Ow, Oneesannn," the rabbit complained, rubbing its ear with a hind paw. Haku smiled. The rabbit reminded him of little Kojika. It turned to Haku. "Oneesan says the girl left Oo-eno Park with another girl and a boy, and then went into the city and into a store. What's a store?"

"Humans go there to exchange pieces of paper for stuff they need," Haku explained.

"What's paper?" the rabbit asked. The wind blew again impatiently. "Fine, fine. And then the three of them went into another store, except the other Onesan said it was a trap in disguise. She said a red-haired lady built the trap right before the girls and the boy walked in. And then after a while the store disappeared and there were only the boy and the other girl lying on the ground."

"And does Oneesan know where the girl and the red-haired lady are now?"

"I don't think so. Oneesan didn't say."

"Is that right, sister wind?" Haku asked. The wind made the grass bob as if nodding.

"Oneesan says yes," the little rabbit said.

"Thank you, sister wind," Haku said. "And thank you, too, little one," he said, patting the rabbit on the head. "You've been a big help." He stood up, bowed to them, and walked back through the Gate.


	15. Interlude: Yubaba's Secret

**Interlude: Yubaba's Secret**

Yubaba watched Haku glide from the balcony toward the Gate, and then disappear into the water. Just in time. She looked out over the town with dread. The neon lights flickered. He was coming. There was a knock on her door.

"Madame," her manager called through the door. "You called?"

Yubaba bustled to the door and pulled it open. The frog spirit on the other side jumped back in surprise that the mistress herself had opened the door. She looked down at him sternly. "Have the girls move the goose sisters to a back room. Are there any others at the moment?"

"No, Madame."

"Good," she said. "Do it quickly. We are expecting an important guest." She strode out past the frog, who stared at his mistress's back. "Don't just stand there slack jawed," she called back. "Get to work!" He scurried past her and into the elevator.

She took her time descending through the strata of the bathhouse into the bathing hall, nodding to the guests and glaring at her workers when they gaped. By the time she reached the main entrance, she could sense his presence at the edge of the town. She greeted the shadowy figure at the bridge herself.

"My lord, we are honored. Welcome to our humble establishment. Shall I have one of the girls show you to your room?"

"No need," the figure replied coldly. "I won't be staying." The lanterns on either side of the bridge dimmed as he passed. "I'm here to investigate some rumors."

"Please," Yubaba said, bowing. "Come in."

Akuma swept into the bathhouse. Yubaba followed, hoping that her orders had been followed.


	16. Chapter 13 - Tale of Two Brothers

**A/N: Please keep voting for The Other World at inkitt dot com slash fandom2 ! :) Thank you all!**

The river was draining back into the stone fountains. Dawn was on the way. Haku stepped off the ferry platform into the water, and then he let his senses melt away, dissolving into the current. Almost all water was connected someplace, and as his awareness expanded it found some water from the spring. The water drew Haku together toward its source, and he shot from the surface of the spring into the damp air of the swamp. Birds shrieked and exploded from the trees in fright at the sudden appearance of a dragon. He pulled himself into human shape. The birds, seeing that the great white snake was gone, hovered for a while, scolding, before finally settling back into their roosts.

Haku stood in the water and waited patiently as the birds quieted and the swamp returned to its usual muted state. The doors of the house opened and Zeniba ran out to discover the cause of the commotion. He strode forward to meet her.

"Haku, what happened? What are you doing here?" she asked. Haku's face darkened. She looked at him carefully. He was older.

"He has Chihiro," Haku said. "Shika left her alone in Tokyo and he plucked her out of the crowd. We need to find her, Granny. Your spell! We need to get her back."

Zeniba looked out over the trees where the last stars still glittered as she thought. "It's too risky," Zeniba said at last. "Opening a window straight into Akuma's domain."

"We can't just leave her there!"

Zeniba shook her head. "The spell isn't good enough for this. We would see her, yes, but it can't tell us exactly where she is. And he would sense us immediately, and then we won't get another chance. We need to find her another way."

"How?" Haku asked, frustrated. "You've been trying to locate him for years with no results. The spell will let us look straight into his palace. We can find out where she is from that."

Haku. Shika's voice rang in his head.

What? snapped Haku.

My parents pulled me out of Tokyo to set me up with this girl, Kitsune. They invited her over to dinner...

I don't have the time to listen to you complain about your parents, Haku interrupted.

No, you don't understand, Shika said. She's the one who followed us into Tokyo. She can travel through the mist. She's the one who took Chihiro.

Tell me you didn't leave her alive, Haku snarled.

She apologized, Haku. She talked to Chihiro and she regrets helping him. What's wrong with you? She can tell us where Chihiro is!

How do you know you can trust her?

She's the one who brought it up. She said she's sincerely sorry. I believe her.

Don't be a fool. Letting our guard down might be exactly what she wants. Haven't you done enough harm already? Haku demanded. Stay out of this. You were supposed to keep her safe.

"What is it?" Zeniba asked, seeing the look of hostility on his face.

"Nothing," Haku said. He shook his head, and then turned to Zeniba again. "Zeniba, I won't leave her there."

Zeniba raised an eyebrow at his evasion, but let it go. "Haku, we will find her. I promise. But we can't afford to reveal our hand too soon. Right now, even if we find her, Chihiro has no way to talk to us and tell us about the situation, and we have no way to tell her about any plans we make. The risk is too big, and it won't accomplish anything."

"If we can't think of another way, we'll use the spell. But first, I need to alert the gatekeepers. Once I cast the spell, we will need to move, both to rescue Chihiro and to break the spell on the Gates. And they'll need time to prepare." She looked warningly at Haku's mutinous expression. "Don't do anything rash," she ordered. "The cause is too important. Don't try to interfere or rescue her on your own." Seeing no acquiescence in his face, she added, "If you act before we're ready, we will stop you. Even with your powers back you can't overpower more than one of us."

"I know that," Haku replied, fuming, the embarrassment of the incident with Yubaba still fresh on his mind.

"Don't think that I don't care about Chihiro," Zeniba said. "But she's a part of this now. She won't thank you if rescuing her means that we let Akuma win the war, or if you get yourself killed."

Then I shall not get myself killed, Haku thought to himself. After one last warning glance, Zeniba hurried inside for her cloak, and Haku watched, as he had watched Yubaba do so many times during his apprenticeship at the bathhouse, as Zeniba spread the dark cloak into wings and flew off into the night.

When she was out of sight, he stepped back into the spring and melted into the water again.

He reappeared at the front entrance of the palace. The lobster guards standing at attention in front of the gate jumped when he appeared. They quickly regained their composure, and bowed to him, still looking flustered.

"Where is my father?" asked Haku.

"His Majesty is having his audience in the throne room, your Highness," one of them replied.

Haku nodded and strode inside. He didn't see the guards look at each other behind his back, but he felt it in the currents around him. The servants, too, whispered and exchanged glances when they saw him coming, and then bowed belatedly before swimming away. Haku ignored it. Let them be surprised, he thought. For how long have I hidden in the shadows. But not anymore.

The entrance doors to the throne room were closed. The hall before the throne room was empty, but for more guards standing on either side of the doors. There were no supplicants.

"Let me pass," Haku ordered.

"His Majesty is resting, my prince," one of them protested.

Haku glared at him. "Announce me," he said firmly.

The guard hesitated, his antennae quivering. Did Fujisan corrupt the entire Guard? Haku thought. But the other one knocked the first guard's spear out of the way with his own, and nodded at Haku. The doors swung slowly open. "His Highness, Prince Nigihayami Kohakunushi," the guard declared.

The chamber was empty but for the king on the throne, as it had been for months. Fujisan had made sure of it.

Kohaku walked to the center of the chamber and bowed deeply to the king. "Father," he said, with his face to the floor. He did not see his father's eyes crinkle in an invisible smile.

"What is it, my son?"

"Please. Instruct me in the ways of dragons so that I may once again take my place as a servant of the people."

* * *

The exercises were familiar to his body, even though his mind had forgotten them since he had performed them last. He moved through the stances slowly, feeling the magic course through his body like fire. He marveled at the strength it gave him, the power of each motion. It was as if he had died and resurrected, and found that he had forgotten what it was like to be alive. It was intoxicating. He promised himself that he would get the better of Fujisan the next time they met, as well as any cronies Zeniba may send after him.

And then he was knocked off his feet.

"Control," King Nihonkai said. "It is not about the movement. Pull the energy inward. Feel it simmer under your skin. Breathe. Again."

Haku got up and faced the king once again. Focus, he told himself. The patterns were not complicated, but the motions did not end where his body ended. The water around him followed his intent, but underwater on the palace practice grounds, there was no visual cue associated with the movement. He had to feel for the edges of the movement in the currents on his skin. Awareness. Concentration. Control, he recited silently. You can't afford to be angry. He was underestimating his newfound strength. It made him unbalanced. With that in mind, he began the pattern dance again. The king blocked each punch, kick, and slash with currents of his own. The movements were more precise. Each impact was stronger than the last.

"Better," the king said as the pattern dance ended. "And again."

Slowly, it came back to him. The lessons. The drills. The bruises of his childhood. It took all his concentration to conform the water to his will, and the fact was made more frustrating because he knew that he had learned it all once before. He took a deep breath. The frustration was distracting. Haku could not imagine the strength of will it took to maintain the shape of the palace, to keep it as solid, and yet not ice, as the palace was.

Haku had been working some hours under the coaching of the king when he was interrupted. He bowed to his father and excused himself.

Risuni?

Haku. Shika just told me what happened.

Haku felt his anger flare up again.

Zeniba called a meeting, Risuni continued. What will you do?

I'm going after her. Did Zeniba tell you to keep me here like a good boy? Haku growled.

What? No, of course not! Risuni paused. I think you should go. They should support you. They need Chihiro, and she needs you.

Haku blinked. Really?

I also think we can give Kitsune a chance. I can't think of any other way we can find her. Will you be at the meeting? I'll back you up.

Yes, I'll come.

* * *

Fujisan entered the suite of rooms that had been set aside from him. He had received news that the girl had been captured. Tenryu had gone on and on about this girl. Chihiro. He had decided to hold her in his rooms to prove Tenryu wrong. Fujisan pushed the door of the cell ajar. She was fast asleep. Fujisan stepped around her carefully. She looked perfectly ordinary to him. She was on the tall side for a girl, and dressed the way tourists on his slopes often dressed, in those tight indigo-dyed cotton pants and a cotton shirt that bared her arms. Any powers she might possess lay dormant.

Fujisan circled around. It struck him how childlike her face still was. He had watched so many children sleep. They always looked so innocent and vulnerable, placing their trust foolishly in the people around them who inevitably betrayed that trust. Including me, a voice in his mind whispered.

Kitsune had been blabbing something about the girl when he returned. Was is possible that she….

No. Look at Jukai, reduced to... Look at the Onagawa reactor. Kohaku. Kitsune. Mother. Even Tenryu himself. No one survives unscathed. Some don't survive at all. They are killers. They even do it to each other and themselves.

A low growl formed deep in his throat. They all deserve to die. They bring it on themselves. He stalked back into the study, turning to close the door behind him. Then a thought struck him.

How can I say I gave her a fair chance? I'd be a coward. And just maybe… He left the door cracked open.

* * *

Chihiro was sure that Kitsune had closed the door before she had fallen asleep, but now the door was ajar. She stood up slowly – she was a little dizzy but otherwise fine – and peeked out through the crack in the door. A candle's wavering light filled the walls and bookshelves with flickering shadows. Chihiro pushed the door open a little more, and then hesitated. There was a man sitting at the table, his back to her. He seemed to be reading something. It was such an intimate moment that she didn't want to intrude. He had long black hair that blended in with his robes in the low light, which flowed around his chair. When Chihiro looked more carefully, she saw that he was slumped over, head low. There were gray hairs among the black. He looked tired and older than she had ever seen him.

Chihiro stepped into the room as quietly as she could, not wanting to break the silence, but as she approached the middle of the room, he spoke.

"Come here," he said.

She took a deep breath and walked toward the table. There was a mat set out opposite the man. She folded herself onto it, and waited for the man to speak.

It was a long silence before he asked, quietly, "Do you know who I am?"

"You're the guardian of Mount Fujisan," Chihiro said. She waited for him to speak again, but he didn't, so she continued, looking down at the table. She did not see his scowl soften as she spoke. "You were a happy child. You and your little sister used to play on the mountainside with the village children. You sang and danced and laughed with them. You and your sister loved the children. But then disease went through the fields, and the families couldn't feed of all of their children, so they took some of the younger ones, or the weaker ones, or the girls, to the forest on the mountain and left them there. You tried to take care of them the best you could at first, but more and more came, and…"

Chihiro paused and looked up at him in concern, but he shook his head and motioned for her to continue.

"…and there were too many. You had no choice. You put them to sleep. Later, people started committing suicide in the forest. They were people that you knew as children. People with families. You tried to stop them, but you couldn't, and this hurt you very badly."

Fujisan was looking at her, no, looking past her with an inscrutable expression.

"It made Jukai sick, didn't it?" Chihiro asked softly.

Fujisan inclined his head once. "Very sick," he said.

"I'm sorry about Jukai," Chihiro said, "but please, you shouldn't think that it's your fault. You tried to take care of those kids. You tried to stop the suicides. But you can't save all of them. It's impossible. It's not your fault."

"Why do they do it?" Fujisan asked quietly.

Chihiro didn't know what to say. She could see his hand trembling on the table under his sleeve.

Fujisan visibly pulled himself together, and in a steadier voice, said: "I understand about the kids. Sacrifice the few for the good of the all. I don't agree with it, but I can understand survival. But how can you take your own life? How can humans kill themselves when there are so many people who love them?"

Chihiro sighed. "Some of them are sick," she said. "Some of them don't believe that there are people who love them. They believe that they are worthless, or that dying would be better than living, or that they owe their ancestors. To many people, love isn't enough anymore. Having enough to eat isn't enough. They want honor, and money, possessions, beauty. They want respect, and people don't respect you for having a loving family and friends." She remembered the little mountain village that Risuni's grandparents lived in, and the people who lived there. "Humans aren't meant to live this way. We just need a little community and to be useful to that community to be happy. That should be enough, but most people don't believe that anymore."

"But how could they hurt Jukai like that? How could they hurt me?"

"I don't think they were thinking about that. They didn't do it to hurt you. It was just, your mountain was nearby, and no one would see them in the middle of the forest. No one would try to stop them. And maybe they trusted you with their last moments."

"So to protect myself, I should cut myself off from the humans? Since they will hurt whatever is nearby."

"Being nearby is also what made you love them, and what gave them the chance to love you. Loving them is what gives them the ability to hurt you. If you don't want to be hurt, you can't ever love."

"How do you know all this?"

Chihiro couldn't answer that. She didn't know, herself.

Fujisan digested what she'd said for a long while. "So that's why Tenryu spoke so highly of you," Fujisan said. "Even though you're so young."

"I loved someone as young as you once," he added. "You remind me of her."

"What happened to her?" Chihiro asked.

Just then, a loud knock came at the door of the study.

"Come in," Fujisan said.

The door opened. A large red ogre-like creature with horns stood on the other side. An oni. The oni glanced at Chihiro, and then said to Fujisan in a low, rumbling voice: "Master is back, sir. He wishes that you and the girl would join him for dinner."

Fujisan nodded and strode toward the door. He held it open and beckoned to Chihiro, letting the oni lead the way forward. Fujisan let her walk past him and then fell into step next to her. "She married a carpenter and had beautiful children and grandchildren that I was blessed to know," he said softly.

Chihiro looked at him. His eyes were dry.


	17. Chapter 14 - Exchanges

**Chapter 14 - Exchanges**

Zeniba materialized inside Yubaba's office.

"Granny!" Boh exclaimed. He had grown again since Zeniba had seen him last. Grown bigger, but not older. _Would he ever stop?_ Zeniba thought.

"It's good to see you, Boh. Is your mother home?"

Boh waddled into the hallway. A minute later, Yubaba all but flew into the room.

"What's wrong, baby?" she cried in alarm. Then she caught sight of Zeniba. "What are you doing here? Get out! Leave my baby alone!"

"No, Mama," Boh assured her. "Granny just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Yubaba said suspiciously.

"Boh, why don't you go play? Your mother and I need to have a long chat."

Yubaba was annoyed, but she kissed Boh and waved him off to the nursery. As soon as he was out of earshot, she turned and glared at Zeniba. "All right. Talk," she said. "What is it that you want?"

"I want the same thing I've wanted all along. The thing that Mother and Father always wanted."

"I've told you I'm not going to join your crazy cause. I'm not insane enough to want to take on a _god_. It's bad for business."

"What if I tell you that he's got Chihiro locked up in his palace? Even if you don't want to admit you feel affection for the girl, she's Boh's friend. And what about Boh? Are you ever going to let him grow up? He's got enough human blood in him that he needs access to both worlds, or he'll end up like us. Look what you've done to him already."

"I'm his _mother._ How I raise him is none of your business."

"Come, sister," Zeniba sighed, "let go of your stupid pride. The spirit world _needs_ you. _I_ need you. I can't do this on my own."

"Tried to face him one on one, did you? _Now_ you say you need me, when this whole time… Well, I say _no._ You've always gotten everything. People respect you, even though you shut yourself in that dinky little house in the middle of nowhere. You're the firstborn. You have more power, even though we're identical. Even Father liked you more. You're not getting me, too. Do you see anyone out there respecting me? No! They all think I'm running a whorehouse and it's beneath them. Even when Haku was here in plain sight, they didn't bother looking here. Because the prince couldn't _possibly_ stoop this low…"

" _I_ respect you," Zeniba said. She didn't mention that Yubaba _was_ running a brothel. She knew it was just a front. "And Father would've been proud of you. I know what you're doing for your workers, and I know they appreciate it."

"I don't want your pity," Yubaba said, walking away toward her desk. A small silver object floated over to Zeniba. On one end was carved the word 'Yubaba.' "Just take it and go. Tell Chihiro she owes Boh a playdate."

"Are you frightened?" Zeniba asked.

Yubaba glared at her. "What are you waiting for? You've gotten what you want. Get out of here."

Zeniba sighed and pocketed the seal. "If you change your mind, you know where to go," she said, but Yubaba had her back turned and refused to reply. It was not Yubaba's fault that she was born the half that she was. She had done admirably with what she had. Zeniba had hoped they could resolve their differences before… She shook her head. "Thank you then, sister." Zeniba said, and left.

* * *

Lin waved at the dragon shooting through the air toward her. "Haku!" she shouted.

Haku hit the boiler room landing and transformed at a run, slipping through the door she held open for him. "Lin," he said. "Don't shout. Is everyone here?"

"They're all waiting inside," Lin said.

"And Zeniba?"

"Upstairs, talking to Yubaba."

"Upstairs!" Haku exclaimed, and stopped short. Kamaji stood in the dim entryway, backlit by the golden glow from the coals.

"They're all here," he hissed to Haku, "and they're hungry for blood in there. Are you going to be alright?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to get Chihiro back," Haku said grimly. "I have what they want. That's all they care about. I can use it to convince them." _Concentrate. You're not as powerless as your brother seems to think._ Hearing his father's words in his head gave Haku an idea. After all, politics was a game, and not one most of these spirits would be used to playing. They had been working from the shadows, not vying for power in the palace games. "Announce me," he said.

Lin and Kamaji were as startled as the throne room guards had been at the request.

"His Highness," Haku prompted in a whisper.

Kamaji shot Haku a skeptical look, and then cleared his throat. "His Highness, Nigihayami Kohakunushi," he growled into the room.

Haku smoothed the folds of his kimono and strode in with as much dignity as he could muster. He gazed around the room at those gathered there. Spirits from all over the world stood or sat around the room, their eyes on him. Some he recognized from visits at Zeniba's cottage or banquets at the palace. Others Haku had only heard of. Yauxal, an eagle spirit, muscled and brown-skinned with high cheekbones and a long feather in his slicked back, was perched on Kamaji's usual seat. Nyoka, a woman in a slinky green gown and a forked tongue, sat on the ledge petting a Kaikusi in his jaguar form. A pale, skeletally thin woman with bloodshot eyes and dark hair cropped close to her scalp huddled by the boiler. A man with a beaked nose and green mottled skin stood leaning against the wall of herb cabinets. Including Shika, there were six in all. They were the ones who had carefully guarded the Gates in each place and protected the nearby human communities, the ones who saw more than others. The ones with spirit blood. Tenryu stood alone in the middle of the room. He was the only one who showed no surprise at all.

Shika and Risuni sat on the ledge surrounded by the little soot balls. At the sight of him, the soot sprites scrambled over to greet him, drawing a wide grin from Risuni. Haku bent to pet them, barely hiding a grin himself. When he straightened up, however, his expression was serious again.

"Everyone," he told them. "Akuma has reached into the heart of Tokyo and has taken a human girl, breaking his vow to never interfere with the workings of the human world. You are the defenders of humans in our world, and have fought to reestablish the connection between the human and spirit worlds. I am asking for cooperation from every single one of you. I am proposing a plan to retrieve her. In doing so, we will discover the location of Akuma's hereto hidden palace, and be able to hit him directly at the heart of his dominion."

It was a good speech, and he was quite proud of it. That is, until, the Nyoka began to speak. "What I want to know, _your Highness_ , is what you're doing here. We are all aware that you have wanted to have nothing to do with the war up to now. Why the sudden interest?"

"You have all wanted me to put my name under consideration for kingship when my father abdicates. I knew that, and I had declined. The reason is simple. I would not have been able to fulfill the full duties of the King. When my river was filled in eight years ago, I lost not only my memories but also the powers that are a dragon's birthright. Without my river, water no longer spoke to me. I felt that in my weakened state, I would not be able to adequately protect and intercede on behalf of the people. However, that has changed. Just a few days ago, I became the guardian of a spring. Yes," he said, seeing their surprise. "A spiritless spring. I was raised to rule from childhood, and now that my powers have returned to me, I consider myself an eligible, and more importantly, capable candidate to inherit the throne."

They stared at him, mouths agape. Springs, forests, and meadows had sprung up guardian-less all over the world, but no one had ever heard of a spirit – an adult spirit – assuming guardianship over one before.

"This task that you propose," Yauxal, the eagle spirit said, recovering from his surprise first. "Rescuing this girl. You say that she has been taken to Akuma's palace. How do we know?"

Shika spoke up. "I spoke to the woman who took Chihiro. She didn't understand what Akuma was planning, and now that she knows he is planning to separate the worlds, she is willing to help us. I vouch for her."

"She served Akuma. You say she had a change of heart, but she can still easily betray us, and everything would be lost," Tenryu said. "We cannot afford to place our entire undertaking on one risk. Reaching into Akuma's domain now would be more than reckless, and for very little gain."

"That's not fair," Risuni said. "Chihiro is only involved because you suggested it." Then she realized who she had contradicted, and blushed. Still, she continued. "As for the risk, I have an idea…"

"Fair or not," Nyoka said, "Akuma will almost certainly move soon. Blood can break as well as bind. He can use hers to rend the worlds apart permanently."

"That's even more reason to go after her as soon as possible!" Risuni insisted.

"What if we just kill her first, so Akuma can't use her?" Nyoka said.

Haku bristled but kept his face free of expression. He held up his hand for silence. "You're right, Nyoka. Akuma does likely plan to use Chihiro that way, but it does not serve us to kill her. We need her as well. The spell will not last much longer, and we will need a binder. She is willing, and we do not have time to find another candidate. That makes her a valuable to Akuma, yes, but only because he knows she is valuable to us."

"There is something else there," the pale, thin woman said creakily. "Your interest in her is more than her value to our enterprise."

Haku recognized her at last. She was Ystlum, a bat spirit and the group's representative in Europe. Ystlum had visited Swamp Bottom often in the year he had lived there, looking for advice or just to sit and yarn for a while. Zeniba had told him that she had stayed in London through the worst of the industrial revolution, and had braved the pollution in order to guard her colony. Zeniba respected her, and that made Haku want to be earnest. "That is true. I love her."

"And you are willing to allow her to be our binder?" Kaikusi interrupted

"I wasn't at first," Haku admitted. "But she chose this, and I will respect her decision."

"Why don't you first tell us about this girl," Ystlum suggested, "and why she is more important to you than all of this."

Haku took a deep breath. "She is the reason I am here at all," Haku began. "I first met her when she was young. She fell into my river. And so when she and her parents wandered into the Spirit World by accident seven years ago, I recognized her. She risked her life for me when I was dying. Eventually, she recognized me in return, and returned my name to me. She is willing to act as the binder between the worlds, and dedicate her life to this task. She spoke, she, a human, spoke to the spring at Swamp Bottom and convinced it to accept me as its guardian. I owe her my life." He nodded at Ystlum. "You're right, Ystlum, that I am doing this for her. I would do anything for her."

The old bat spirit looked at him kindly. "Then you understand why we cannot let the worlds split apart. The humans bring out both the best and the worst in us. But what if becoming King meant you would never see her again? What if she dies? It is a very real possibility. We need your word that you'll do what needs to be done, no matter what happens."

"You need to give us a reason to trust you." The turtle spirit said.

"One of us has to be the first to trust the other. If we are to work together, I will submit my name to be under consideration for the throne, as an act of goodwill. I understand that your people are busy undoing the spell on the gate. All I ask is that you do not interfere with my attempt. You all know me better than I do. If I become the King, you know that I will do my duties toward the people."

" _When the time comes, you will have the power to choose,"_ Zeniba had said. " _You will have to do what you think is right."_ _Anything,_ Haku thought. _Even if she dies. Even if it means a thousand years as King. Anything._ He closed his eyes, listening to Risuni explain her plan to the others. _Concentrate,_ he told himself. _You can't afford any weakness now._ Under his robes, his hands shook.


	18. Chapter 15 - Akuma

**Chapter 15 - Akuma**

Shika stood in the mist. He was lost. He had never tried to find anyone else in the mist before. He had never seen anyone else in the mist before Kitsune had followed them into it. He had never even heard of anyone else using it. But she had been travelling through it a long time, just like him. It occurred to him that there could be infinitely many people behind the clouds and he would never know. He tried walking around in it, but emerged into his forest in the mountains after a few steps every time. So he just stood there. The mist seemed to close in on him. What had seemed obvious just a few days ago was now unknowable. The whiteness was identical on all sides, except...there was a red dot in the distance.

 _Kitsune?_ Shika thought, striding toward it. The next moment, they almost ran each other over.

"What's going on?" Shika demanded. "Where did you come from? What else don't I know about this place?"

"I have a theory," Kitsune said. "Want to hear it?" She blushed.

"What is it?"

"I don't think this place really exists. At least, not when no one is in here," Kitsune said. "Every time we enter it, we call it into existence. A separate one for each of us. When we're here, we're disconnected from reality, like a soap bubble that's just floating in the air. We call to the place that we want to go with our minds, and the mist connects to that place again."

"So as long as there's a consciousness in the mist, it's a real place and we can get to it," Shika said.

"I think so," Kitsune said. "I'm guessing that's what happened just now. It seemed like you were a long distance away when I first saw you, but I don't think these...bubbles of space have any real sense of size. So as soon as we connected, there was no distance between us at all."

"But how did I see you, if these bubbles weren't connected?"

"When I thought of you, they touched and I could see you. That's what calling is, it's just the thought of the place."

"What about other people?" Shika wondered. "Can they get into the mist on their own? Does the mist exist for them if they're alone?"

"I don't know," Kitsune said. "How would we ever find out? No one would ever risk his life like that."

"Maybe no spirit would," Shika said. "Humans, though, with their fleeting lives must know something that we don't. They're always doing something dangerous. Speaking of humans, we're wasting time. Will you help us?"

"Time doesn't pass while we're in here," she said. "Only when we're connected to the real world and coming and going. I used to hide here and play by myself when I was young." She looked around them at the fog warily, but there was only white. "What is it you want me to do?"

"We need your help communicating with Chihiro," Shika said. "There's someone I want you to meet. She's waiting for us, in Ueno Park."

"Alright," Kitsune said.

They walked together out into the park. Paper lanterns illuminated the blossoming trees from below with a warm glow as people strolled about. No one paid them any attention. Shika led Kitsune to a bench where a girl sat alone, reading. The girl looked up from her book as they approached, and stood up to greet them.

"Kitsune, this is Risuni. Could you take her to Chihiro for us?"

Risuni bowed to Kitsune. "Please, take good care of me," she said.

Kitsune took a deep breath. "You know how risky this is?" she said. "He is very sensitive to intruders."

Risuni nodded. Shika did as well, more reluctantly.

"Very well," Kitsune said. She extended a hand to Risuni, who took it. The mist wrapped around them, and then they were gone.

Shika stared at the empty bench for a time, and then disappeared into the mist as well.

* * *

The oni led Chihiro and Fujisan up flight after flight of stairs. The creature never seemed to tire, and climbed steadily. Finally, they stopped outside a door with two more oni, these with dark blue skin, standing guard. The guards bowed and waved them through. The door closed behind them, and then they stood in near cave darkness.

After the light of the hallways, it was like looking into the void. Everything seemed to disappear - Fujisan, the oni, even the walls and ceiling. Chihiro could feel a chill wind sweep around the room. It felt as if she was floating, and everything else had fallen away. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that the back wall was open, and billions of stars shone through the perfect darkness. A shadow near the middle of the room drew her gaze. It pulsed with darkness like a black hole, blocking out the light of the stars behind it. She imagined light being sucked in, unable to escape. Then the shadow opened its eyes. It had no irises. Its eyes were completely white but for two tiny black pupils. _Akuma._

"My prince," Akuma said. He smiled, revealing white teeth. "And our lovely guest. Chihiro, is it? How wonderful to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you. Don't worry, it was almost all good."

Chihiro followed speechlessly as the dark silhouette led them to an adjoined room, where a huge table was set for three. She felt Fujisan's presence behind her, and heard the quiet swish of his robes as he walked. They seated themselves, Akuma at the head of the table. In the brightly lit room, his hair and clothes seemed to swallow any light unfortunate enough to hit them, but at least they were recognizable as hair and clothes. His face and hands were as pale as Haku's. His irisless eyes were as disconcerting as ever, and made it difficult to look up.

Women came in bearing basins and hot cloths for them to wash, and then with platters of richly dressed meats of all kinds. Fish the length of Chihiro's leg, sliced ham, large unidentifiable birds, all dripping with sauce. As a finale, four oni carried in an entire roast deer on a wooden slab. Chihiro thought of Shika and felt bile rising in the back of her throat.

"Food of the spirits," Akuma said, piling meats onto her plate. "Most humans would die for a taste of this." The smell of rich animal fats filled the back of her throat as she breathed in, and she almost gagged.

"I'm not hungry," she said softly.

"But you are our guest. You must eat," Akuma said. "I had it prepared especially for you." He looked at Fujisan, who also looked slightly uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. He smiled. "My prince," he said, "who'd have thought that you would have pity for a human girl, after all you and Jukai have been through."

"You can't blame us," Akuma said to Chihiro. "You can't blame us for wanting to cut off from the human world. Look at everything you've done to the planet. Cutting down forests, choking creatures with your trash, even the air and weather is at your whim. _You_ are the next mass extinction. We're only trying to protect ourselves."

"Which reminds me, Fujisan, you should invite Jukai to join us here. Time is running short. It won't be long before we close the gates."

"Already?" Fujisan asked in surprise. He had peeled off the skin from a fish and was delicately picking out the pin bones from the white flesh. "This is far ahead of schedule. Why?"

"Here's your answer, your highness," Akuma said, gesturing graciously to Chihiro. "They've brought a human here. I'm so sorry to hold you here like this, my dear," he said as an aside to Chihiro, "but we absolutely cannot let them join the worlds together again. Ever since the worlds split, the spirit world has been a sanctuary for us. The Gates were designed to regulate the traffic and to keep the humans from destroying both worlds. You came here the first time out of ignorance. We cannot blame you for that. But Gate is supposed to prevent you from coming back. And yet Zeniba has deliberately brought you here again. We can't have humans running rampant through the divine realms. It threatens all of us who live here." He stared at the silent Chihiro, who had not touched her plate. "Tenryu tells us that you understand everything, and yet now you say nothing. Was he wrong, then?"

Fujisan whispered to one of the women, who took Chihiro's untouched plate and returned with a bowl of light tofu soup. Chihiro smiled at Fujisan gratefully and picked up her spoon. She hadn't eaten since Kitsune had given her the rice laced with sleeping potion, and she was hungry. Even so, she could barely keep down the little she managed to eat.

After the meal, one of the serving women led Chihiro through the maze-like stone halls to a large bedroom. Chihiro tried to get the woman to explain what was happening, but she ignored all attempts at conversation as if she could not hear. She simply shooed Chihiro inside and closed the door behind her. The room itself was luxuriously furnished and imposing, with high stone walls and a marble floor, covered with a bear skin rug. The furniture – a huge canopied bed, wardrobe, hat stand, desk, chair, and bookshelves - were dark mahogany. There were no windows. An elaborate chandelier hung from the ceiling.

Chihiro shuddered at the sight of the bear skin rug. She didn't want to touch it. It reminded her of the whole roast deer on the platter. She'd had no problem eating meat before in the human world, but here, after seeing animals change into human form, it felt like cannibalism. She edged around it to look at the bookshelf. There were books spanning the ages, in a myriad of languages, many she didn't recognize. Time meant little to spirits, she realized, for every book here looked new, no matter its age. Then a slim pair of burgundy leather-bound books caught her eye: _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_ in their original editions. She must be looking at a fortune in first editions. Chihiro ran her finger along the spine of _Alice._

Then she heard a sound behind her. She spun around.

"Oh, good, it's you," said a soft voice. The cloth that hung from the bed's canopy moved aside, and Risuni stepped out from behind the curtains. Kitsune emerged from where she had been hiding on the other side of the bed.

"Risuni?" Chihiro whispered, walking over to her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Kitsune brought me. I'm here to give you these," Risuni said. She pulled a large white scale and a small pouch out of the folds in her kimono, and handed them to Chihiro.

Chihiro ran her fingers over the scale's pearly surface. _This must be Haku's_ , she thought.

 _Yes,_ Haku's voice said inside her head. _We're here. Zeniba and I are here. We hear you. We see you. Are you alright?_

 _Yes,_ she thought to Haku, and examined the pouch, which was made of cloth and was so light that it felt empty. "What's this?" she asked.

"A gift from an old friend," Risuni said mysteriously. "Haku's coming for you. You're going to be okay."

They heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Time to go," whispered Kitsune urgently. She grabbed Risuni's wrist and the mist rose around them. Chihiro quickly stuffed the scale and the pouch under the pillow of the bed.

The door opened. Akuma walked in.

"I thought I smelled an intruder," he said, looking around the room through slitted eyes. His gaze landed on Chihiro. "Ah," he said. "How rude. I don't appreciate trespassers."

There was a loud crack.

Chihiro looked around, but nothing seemed to be different.

Akuma swept out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him.

Chihiro reached for the scale hidden under the pillow.

* * *

Haku helped Zeniba up off the floor. The window had shattered, then exploded, knocking both of them off their feet.

 _Chihiro, are you okay?_ Haku thought. That connection, thankfully, was unaffected.

 _Yes. What happened?_

 _He broke the spell. We can't see you anymore. But he doesn't seem to know about the scale. Keep it hidden!_

He turned to Zeniba and swore. "Damn."

 _Do you know where you are?_ he called to Chihiro.

 _Wait. Someone else is here,_ Chihiro said. The connection cut off. Haku looked at Zeniba, worried, but then Chihiro's voice came through again. _It's okay, it's only Kitsune._ And then another thought. _She says that we're on… the moon?_

"The moon?" Haku said aloud. "Can we trust what she says?"

 _I trust her,_ Chihiro said. _I thought I saw stars from a window earlier. Just stars, no clouds. How is that possible?_

"I see. He's been hiding in his father's shadow this whole time," Zeniba said.

"You meant that literally," Haku said to Zeniba. "Hiding in his father's shadow. Fitting. That makes it difficult for us."

"Maybe impossible. Humans have survived the fall from the moon before. There are stories. But inevitably they've had some spirit blood in them. Chihiro has none."

 _Haku,_ Chihiro called.

"Granny, I have to go find her. We know where she is now. I have to go."

Zeniba nodded. "Go."

 _I am coming,_ he thought back. _You will be okay._

* * *

 _Chihiro, are you okay?_

 _Yes. What happened?_ Chihiro asked.

 _He broke the spell. We can't see you anymore. But he doesn't seem to know about the scale. Keep it hidden!_ Haku paused. _Do you know where you are?_ he asked.

Someone knocked at the door.

 _Wait. Someone else is here._ Chihiro stuffed the scale back into its hiding place under the pillow. "Come in," she said cautiously.

The door opened. It was Kitsune, holding a bundle of clothes and a large towel. She smiled nervously when she saw Chihiro. Chihiro sighed in relief and smiled back.

"I brought you bathing things, if you'd like a bath," Kitsune said.

The last time Chihiro had washed properly was in the spring back at Zeniba's house. "A bath sounds wonderful," she said. She pulled the scale and pouch out from under the pillow again. _It's okay, it's only Kitsune._

Kitsune opened a small wooden door into an adjoining room. A rectangular bath was sunk into the floor. In the corner there was a small wood-burning boiler and a stack of kindling. Kitsune placed the towel and clothes on a small wooden stool, and began to feed logs into the fire.

"Kitsune," Chihiro said. "Where are we?"

"We're in Akuma's palace, on the moon."

 _She says that we're on… the moon?_ Chihiro thought to Haku.

 _The moon? Can we trust what she says?_

 _I trust her,_ Chihiro said. _I thought I saw stars from a window earlier. Just stars, no clouds._ "How is that possible?" she asked.

"In the human world," Kitsune said, "the moon might be an inhospitable rock separated from the earth by hundreds of thousands of miles of space. But we're in a world of myth and legend now, and the moon is just a place like any other place."

After a little while, hot water began flowing into the tub from the hidden pipes embedded in the floor. She pointed to the small pouch in Chihiro's hands, and Chihiro handed it to her. "Herbs for the water," she explained as she tipped the contents into the tub. The water turned cloudy and became tinged with green. "I'll wait in the bedroom if you need anything."

 _Haku,_ Chihiro called.

 _I am coming,_ he thought back. _You will be okay._

The water stopped flowing on its own when the tub was full. Chihiro dipped a toe in the water. It was deliciously warm. She got in and lay back, letting the herb-infused steam envelop her. Something nagged at the back of her mind. The smell was familiar.


	19. Chapter 16 - The One That I Loved

**Chapter 16 – The One That I Loved**

The cherry trees filled the smoking air with their perfume and delicate pink petals. The volcanic ash and the petals drifted to the ground together, covering the undergrowth and muffling Fujisan's footsteps. The ground trembled with emotion, and birds fled from the trees in alarm.

Fujisan placed a hand on a nearby boulder. _I'm back_ , he thought, to calm it. _I'm home._ He didn't mention that he didn't plan to stay. The mountain was his child, and he was a monster for abandoning it just like so many families had abandoned their children on his slopes. But they had had their reasons. They had their other children to think of. He had Jukai. _You do what you need to so your loved ones can live._ So he comforted his mountain wordlessly, lying from the bottom of his soul that it would be okay. He would never leave. He would always take care of the mountain.

Aokigahara was lush as she always was at this time of year, despite the ash clinging to the already dark green leaves. Recently, the humans had started putting up signs next to the trail reminding people that life is precious, to try to prevent the suicides. Still, here and there bouquets of flowers were left on the ground next to a marker by a bereaved family member. The small shrine dedicated to Jukai was full of flowers too. Even after all this time, they still believed that she watched over them, the ones that were lost. _Didn't they ever think,_ Fujisan thought angrily, _what it would do to her to watch suicides day after day, year after year?_

He came to the clearing where the village used to be, where the children Jukai had played with had lived. The village had been deserted long ago, but the ruins remained. The woman Fujisan had loved was buried here, along with her husband and children. He sometimes visited and sat by the grave and talk to her. On this day, he stopped there, _to say goodbye,_ he thought.

To his surprise, there was already someone there: a young man holding some flowers. They stared at each other, both speechless, both scared.

"Who are you?" Fujisan finally growled.

The boy gestured to the grave. "My many times great grandmother lies here," he said.

"This grave?" Fujisan asked. The boy nodded. "But she died over a thousand years ago!"

"You knew her, then?" the boy asked. He said this as if it could possibly be true. Fujisan didn't reply. "There is a tale passed down through my family about her," the boy explained. "It tells of a spirit she knew that lived on this mountain, who watched over her and all of the village children when she was small. They were good friends."

Fujisan glanced down at the grave. The corner of his mouth twitched in nostalgic amusement. _So,_ he thought, _you continue to push me to realize things about myself I never would have known, even now when you are gone. If you can talk to me from beyond the grave, where have you been this whole time?_

The boy watched this silent exchange with wide eyes. When Fujisan finally looked back up at him, he said, "You must be Fujisan."

"And you are Akari's child," Fujisan said slowly. "What do you want from me?"

"I didn't expect to actually meet you," the boy confessed, setting the flowers down on the grave. "I just came here to pay my respects. From the stories, she seemed like such an amazing person. I hoped to learn more about her by coming here, and I wanted to see if you were real."

"In that respect, you are lucky. I show myself to very few humans now. You caught me by surprise."

"The stories say that you have a sister. Jukai, right? Could I meet her, too?"

Fujisan was silent for a long time, looking at Akari's grave. He stood there so long that the boy started to apologize.

"No," Fujisan said. "Don't be sorry. Yes, yes, come meet her. Akari meant a lot to her, too. She wouldn't want me to keep this to myself."

The boy gathered up a backpack, water bottle, and notebook from the ground, and followed his new companion down the path. As they walked, Fujisan told him about Aokigahara and what had happened since the villagers had left. In turn, the boy told Fujisan what had become of his family. They were scattered all over the world, especially in America, doing all manner of things. He said that he was working as a museum curator, studying ancient Japanese artifacts and writing down their stories. He held up his notebook.

"I'll be writing down everything you tell me in here tonight," he said, "to use as inspiration when I write descriptions at the museum. Pity no one will believe me if I tell them what really happens today." He shrugged ruefully. "It's unfortunate that to be a scholar nowadays you're not allowed to believe in any of the old myths yourself. You have to write things like, "People back then believed," like what they believed can't possibly be true. It takes away from the authenticity of the story. But I still think that if my writing is good enough, the truth in the stories will speak to them."

"I hope so," Fujisan said. _Too bad it's too late_ , he thought. _The Gates will close soon, and then even if the humans regain their spirituality, it won't fix anything._

The entrance to Jukai's home was a small cave where a stream once flowed into the ground. Now, all that was left was a dried-up streambed, filled with dead leaves and other debris. Fujisan shook his head as they crossed the cave mouth. The stream had been one of the tributaries of the Kohaku River. It had carved out the cave where Jukai lived even before little Kohaku had gained consciousness, and it had dried up with the river.

Past the first cave, there was a room with a stone table and elegantly carved chairs. Torches on the walls filled the space with warm, flickering light. Bright, beaded curtains lent some color to the otherwise dreary space. An old woman bowed as they entered, and led them to the table.

"How is Jukai doing, grandmother?" Fujisan asked her in a low voice.

"Not so well," she said sadly. "She felt your leaving, and it frightened her. It'll do her good to see you."

"Wait here," Fujisan told the boy. "Look around and remember, so you can tell the humans what you have seen here today. Very few spirits dwell on this side of the barrier now." He left the boy there and walked to where one of the curtains hung in a doorway. He lifted the curtain with a quiet tinkling of the beads, and went in.

The boy looked around. The old woman was walking toward him with a tray of tea. "Are you a spirit, too, grandmother?" he asked.

"No, dear," she said. "I'm completely human. I'm a miko, see. Been one my whole life. I used to tend the shrine back there on the path, and then one day I found a girl there, crying. It was Jukai, of course, but I didn't know that at the time. I comforted her best I could. I thought she was the family of someone who committed suicide out there. You see them from time to time. Then Fujisan showed up and asked me if I would take care of her. I'd already pledged my life to serving her, and she obviously needed me, so I said yes."

* * *

Fujisan entered Jukai's bedchamber. She lay there on the bed, her eyes open and red from crying, staring up at the ceiling, not seeing anything. He walked toward her, and as he did, her eyes seemed to focus on him, and she smiled a little at the sight.

"There was another one yesterday," she said. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Let's think of something else for the moment," Fujisan coaxed. "I brought you a visitor. One of Akari's children came back to see us." She smiled. "Let me help you get up out of that bed," he said. He bent down and gently placed her arms around his neck, and with one arm under her legs, the other one supporting her back, lifted her up.

As she held him, she said: "I'm glad you're back. I thought you'd left for good."

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm not going to leave you." He carried Jukai to her chair and settled her in it. He took her robe from where it hung from a hook on the wall and draped it about her shoulders. She looked healthy, if you didn't know her. Her body was a representation of her forest, and the forest itself was doing well. It had been a good year, with enough sunlight and rain, and the humans valued the forest enough to leave it standing. Jukai didn't have scars like the ones Kitsune had when he had first met her, but her black hair was missing big chunks, like it had been hacked off irregularly. Fujisan took a brush from the top of the vanity and ran it lightly through her hair. As he did, the hair grew out, until it was long and shining.

"There," he said. "That's better. I should come see you more often. Is granny taking good care of you?"

"Yes," Jukai said, "of course she is. I'm sorry I'm not stronger."

"No, don't say that," Fujisan said.

Fujisan offered her his arm. She held it, leaning on it for support, and slowly they walked back toward the main room. As they pushed aside the curtain, the boy looked shocked. Jukai was much weaker than he had imagined, and she looked about his age. He got up and offered her his arm to her as well, and together, they brought her to her seat.

"He came here to learn more about Akari," Fujisan said, sitting down next to Jukai, "and to learn if we were real. An admirable leap of faith in this day and age for someone from the city."

Jukai smiled at him. "Akari was one of my best friends," she said. "I'm glad the family still remembers her."

"How can we not?" the boy said, smiling back. "The family loves stories, and there are so many good ones about her."

"I'm sure there are," Jukai laughed. "We were such mischievous children and we had such fun! If it's stories you're looking for, Fujisan has many he could tell you. But I have one here that even he doesn't know. Let me tell it to you.

"When Akari was young, Fujisan here fell in love with her. She loved him back, as I'm sure you knew already. And I'm sure he's already told you why they didn't get married…"

"Wait," the boy interrupted. "I actually don't know. Fujisan hasn't mentioned…"

"If you're really going to tell him this, Jukai, I should leave," Fujisan interrupted irritably.

"No," Jukai said. She placed her hand on Fujisan's arm as if to hold him there. "You need to hear this more than he does. I should've told you this long ago."

"I _lived_ this story. I know everything I need to know about it."

"That's what you think," Jukai said sternly. "You've lived through the story, and you can live through the retelling of it." She looked at the boy. "Do you know about Akari's sister?"

"I know that she had a sister, but no one ever talks about her."

"That's because she died when she was young," Jukai said. "When Akari was seven and her sister was three, there was a severe famine. Many families starved to death. Akari's family worked very hard, but still there wasn't enough food for all of them. So Akari's parents brought their younger daughter up the mountain and left her there, and prayed that Fujisan would find her and take care of her. And they weren't the first ones to do such a thing. There were too many. There was nothing for us to do but let them rest in peace.

"Still, when the time came for Akari to be married, Fujisan couldn't bring himself to ask for her hand, even though she was more than willing and her family would've approved. It wasn't because he is a spirit and she was a human. It was because his guilt prevented it. The memory of her sister prevented it, and it haunts him even now."

Fujisan made to get up and leave, but Jukai stopped him with a hand on his arm. She held his gaze.

"She waited for him for a long time, by those days' standards. When she finally got married, to another one of the children we had played with, Fujisan had a tough time. They stayed friends, but especially during the special days in her life – when she got married, when she had children – those were difficult times for Fujisan. When she had her first child, Fujisan stayed away for almost a year. It was hard for her, too.

"One day, during one of his absences, I went with her to gather kindling on the mountain," she looked at Fujisan before continuing. "She told me this. 'I know that Fujisan was with my sister in her last moments, all those years ago. My parents don't know this, but I hid in a tree and I watched him lead her away. Maybe I should have stopped them. I don't know. I know he blames himself for that still, but I'm glad that he was there. Even if he's not ready to forgive himself yet, please… even if he never sees me again, please let him know that I forgive him.'"


	20. Chapter 17 - Dried Worm Salts

**Part 4 - I Believe**

 _If you haven't forgotten me,_

 _I believe that we can meet again someday_

\- _Reprise l. 13-14_

 **Chapter 17 – Dried Worm Salts**

The steam was hung heavy in the air, simultaneously fragrant and bitter, like tea. Puffs of it obscured the wooden corners of the room from Chihiro's view as she lowered herself into the green-tinged water.

" _Yuck, what's in this water?"_

Chihiro froze. That was her voice, the same voice that was in the home videos her parents had of her when she was little.

" _Dried worm salts. It's supposed to be good for you."_

The other voice was that of a woman, maybe a little older than Chihiro was now. The now familiar pain was back, nagging at the back of her mind like an itch.

Chihiro closed her eyes and tried to relax. She breathed in deeply, trying to take in the smell, and let the pain wash over her in a wave. The sound of rushing water bubbled up from the depths of her memory. She heard it, in her mind, though the detached part of her consciousness knew that the bath water was still. Soft murmurs of conversation floated through the damp air all around.

" _Yank it again when the bath is full. It'll stop," the woman continued._ "… _You can let go of the rope now. I'll go get us some breakfast."_

The silhouette of the woman appeared faintly against the darkness of Chihiro's eyelids. She was tall, with long hair tied back loosely, and she was wearing some sort of smock over her short pants and bare feet.

" _Okay!" young Chihiro called._

Briefly, she could feel the rough surface of the rope against her palms and her feet balanced on some sort of ledge. The pain in her head flared up in protest. Chihiro gritted her teeth and gripped the pain, pulling it toward her. She slid down further into the water, and as her head went under she almost expected to feel a deluge of water slamming into her from above… and then the pain pushed the feeling away. _Who was that woman?_ Chihiro thought. _And what was that place? Where might she be now?_

 _And that little girl who spoke so boldly, where did she go?_

Chihiro reached for the scale sitting on the pile of clothes on the wooden stool.

* * *

Lin sat on the ledge in the boiler room, feeding candies one by one to the sootballs gathered round her. A small pile of items that the spirits had left sat on the floor next to her. The rest of the bathhouse was asleep. Everyone had gone home to their human families to prepare for the morning.

Kamaji put down his mortar and pestle for the night. The fire was slowly dying. He gathered his strength – it had been decades since he had last done this – and slowly, his human skin melted away and reshaped itself into a grey, hairy, exoskeleton. His head and torso moved closer together and grew rounded. His dark glasses fell away, revealing eight red-grey eyes.

The large spider spirit reached into its underbelly with its front claws and produced a glistening strand of silk. It climbed up the wall of herb cabinets to the ceiling and attached the end of the silk to a corner, and proceeded to the opposite corner, trailing the silk. It did this eight times, and then with the foundation laid, began to spin an enormous web that covered the ceiling.

The only source of light in the room was the flickering of the leftover coals in the boiler. Their red light was dim and shadows obscured the edges of the cavernous room. Lin could only hear the occasional clicking of the spider's claws on the walls as Kamaji skittered across the ceiling.

"Haku's grown up," Lin commented softly, knowing the spider was too far away to hear but that the vibrations of the web would carry her words to Kamaji nevertheless. "He might actually make a decent king. I don't envy him, though. The king rarely leaves the palace."

The spider suddenly dropped down out of the darkness beside her, making her flinch and stifle a scream.

"Are you trying to scare me to death?" Lin scolded.

The spider held out a sack of silk with its front legs, hanging from the silk thread with its back legs. Lin carefully placed the trinkets from the pile into it - scales, feather, claws – all powerful items in magic with a person's particular essence on them. Lastly, there was a golden ring with a few hairs wrapped around it – the hairs that Haku had collected from Chihiro in the human world. The spider took the sack and disappeared back into the darkness above. He walked along the web, placing the items at measured intervals. The golden ring he placed in the exact center of the web, and a voice rang out softly into the room, the thoughts amplified by the magic in the web.

"I'm gonna go get us some breakfast."

"Okay!"

Lin gasped. _That voice!_ She remembered that day vividly. Were Chihiro's memories triggering? Then an older but still familiar voice spoke into the still air.

"Who was that woman? And what was that place?"

"Kamaji," Lin called into the darkness above her. "We need to warn Haku."

* * *

The clouds obscured the full face of the moon on this night, but where the clouds were thin, the moonlight formed a mysterious halo that shone through the canopy above the swamp. Haku broke through the canopy a ways from Zeniba's house, flying toward where the moon was still rising in the east. There was no point in staying under cover - he would be a bright white speck against a black sky for most of the journey. The moonlight reflected off his scales, making him glow. His tail billowed behind him. The night was calm. Almost too calm.

 _Haku,_ he heard Chihiro say in his mind. _I remembered something. A tall woman, with long brown hair. Do you know who she is?_

Before he could reply, another voice spoke. Lin's. _The worm salts worked. Chihiro's memories are being triggered. Be careful. The spell will be especially sensitive._

 _Lin?_ Haku thought back. _You heard her?_

 _I heard her memory,_ Lin said. _It was one of me, from the bathhouse. I didn't try to try to talk to her. It's too risky._

 _Does she sound okay?_ Haku asked.

 _Nothing out of the ordinary,_ Lin replied.

 _You should talk to her,_ Haku thought back. Then he pictured Chihiro again, sending his thoughts her way. _Yes, I know her. And she remembers you. She is also helping in this endeavor. Be careful. The spell is close to triggering._

 _Tell me about her,_ Chihiro requested.

The clouds had thickened since he had left the shadow of the trees. Haku eyed them with apprehension. They were dark, and Haku could already feel the electricity building up static in his fur. Too bad they were between him and where he wanted to go. _She is a weasel spirit,_ he said to Chihiro. _She took you under her wing in your first days here and was very protective of you._ He plunged headfirst into chaos. The clouds rumbled, and swallowed him up.

 _What's happening?_ Lin asked.

 _Just some storm clouds,_ Haku said. But it was more than just storm clouds.

The air pressure dropped. The clouds completely obscured his vision. Water droplets clung to his fur and plastered it to his body, muffling his sense of touch and rendering him almost completely blind. The air crackled with electricity. A stray bolt of lighting cracked a foot from Haku's head, forcing him to roll aside and out of the way, leaving the smell of singed fur behind.

 _What's her name?_ asked Chihiro.

 _Lin_ , Haku said.

He shot upwards, trying to rise above the cloud cover, but the storm had developed into a towering thunderhead. Desperately, he broke himself into a million tiny droplets, sinking into the cloud. Immediately, all his senses but touch disappeared, but each wisp and curl of cloud was crystal clear in his mind. Something was moving within the cloud. Many small somethings. Clouds swirled in tiny vortices around hundreds of pairs of flapping wings. He was being surrounded by hundreds of small winged creatures. The cloud broiled, overwhelming him until he couldn't tell up from down. With a huge effort, he pulled himself back together.

Now that he knew the creatures were there, he could hear the flapping behind the plumes all around. Where the creatures where, the clouds were dark with hazy shadows, and the stench of wet feathers was all around. They kept pace with his speed, swirling around him and creating a vortex. The only way out was up, even if it was a trap.

 _What about you, Haku? How did we meet?_

Haku shut out Chihiro's voice. _This is bad_ , Haku said to Lin. _I think they expected me._

 _Hold on,_ Lin said. _I'll be able to see you in a second._

The cloud had thickened so much that it formed a vertical tunnel. It seemed to go on forever. The moon rose and glowered down at him over the lip of the clouds. Haku flew up through the eye of the developing cyclone and burst out of the cloud layer. Crows, formed of magic and thundercloud, burst out of the dark shroud right behind him.

 _Haku! Above you!_

A dark shape swooped out of the sky and Haku felt sharp talons rake across his back, slipping on his scales. He flipped himself over, snarling. It was a large bird of prey. Haku grabbed it in his teeth and flung it away from him, breaking its neck. It fell limply away into the churning darkness below. There were more of them. Their claws weren't very effective against Haku's hardened scales. They were too small. Haku knocked them aside easily with his powerful talons and tail, rising quickly as he did. The storm was still brewing, and the thunderheads rose almost as quickly as he did. Below, the crows swarmed in a great mass, writhing like waves on a turbulent sea. Haku was a creature of water, not a creature of air, and he realized he would be at a significant disadvantage if anything big enough came at him. Surely, this was not the end to the challenges.

And as he thought this, an enormous creature loomed up out of the clouds below. It had bat-like wings and huge curved claws like scythes. The wings stirred tufts of white around with every beat. Its dark scaly body absorbed the moonlight like velvet. It stared at Haku with its jeweled orange eyes, each one the size of Haku's head, that glowed like coals, like there was a fire lit within the beast's body and if it opened its mouth... Haku could almost feel the heat radiating from its body. It roared, shaking the air, and Haku felt as if he were looking into a cavern of molten rock behind the thing's rows of sharp teeth. It could easily bite him in two, if it had a mind to. Haku couldn't tear his eyes away.

 _WATCH OUT!_ Lin cried.

He twisted around in the air as a golden net fell over him, burning like acid wherever it touched him. He screamed as he felt his limbs seize up. He dropped from the sky like a stone toward the leviathan's gaping maw. The last thing he saw unconsciousness took hold of him was the creature dissolving into the air. It had only been an illusion.


	21. Interlude: What Are You Going To Do?

**Interlude: What Are** _ **You**_ **Going To Do?**

Fujisan stood bowed low before the king in the underwater garden. The king, flanked by his guards, had been taking a walk.

"Father," he said.

"My son, Prince Fuji no Takane," said the king. "I hear you."

"Father, it's your daughter Aokigahara. Please, she refuses to leave the human world." The king said nothing. He looked at his eldest son steadily with no change of expression, waiting for him to continue. Fujisan, seeing no response, panicked. "Please, Father, you have to make her come back! She's always trusted you. She'll listen to you! I beg of you! Ask her to come home!"

"It's her decision," the king said gravely. "I will not make it for her."

"But the gate is going to close!" shouted Fujisan. The guards grabbed his arms and pulled him back away from the king at the first threatening gesture. "You would leave her out there? You can't cut her off. It'll kill her!"

"So," said the king. "She is the only one you are worried about."

Fujisan felt a flush of shame, as though he was a child again, being scolded, even as he had just come begging to his father like a child with nowhere to turn, hoping his father could solve all of his problems. The king nodded at the guards, who let go of Fujisan.

" _I_ will not be leaving her out there. _I_ will do nothing. It does you no good to come to me. She trusts _you_ , Fujisan. _You_ are the one who has been taking care of her all this time. What are _you_ going to do?"


	22. Chapter 18 - Death

**A/N: I hope everyone had a great holiday! Mine was hectic, thus the late update :) Wishing everyone a happy new year, and a great semester/quarter!**

Chihiro sat up, clutching the scale. "No!" she cried out.

The door opened. Kitsune stuck her head into the room. "What's the matter?"

"Something's happened..." Chihiro whispered.

"What is it?" asked Kitsune. Then she noticed the palm-sized scale in Chihiro's hands. Her eyes grew wide. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked harshly. "Where did you get it?" When Chihiro didn't respond, she grabbed Chihiro by the shoulders and shook her.

"What?" Chihiro said. She twisted around. Kitsune stared at the scale in her hands, looking frightened and angry. "This? It's Haku… Kohaku's. Risuni gave it to me."

"The prince's?" Kitsune said. She gazed at Chihiro, trying to gather her thoughts. " _Keep it hidden,_ " she hissed when she finally spoke. "Hasn't anyone told you how dangerous it is, how vulnerable it makes the one it belongs to?"

Chihiro nodded mutely.

In the outer room, the door flew open with a bang.

"Girl! Master wants to see you," a gruff voice said.

" _Hide it,_ " Kitsune whispered emphatically. She rose to greet the oni at the door.

Chihiro reached for the towel, trembling. _What could have happened?_ she thought. She pulled on the nightgown that Kitsune had brought her along with the towel without much thought and tucked the scale into the pocket. She opened the bathroom door and went into the bedroom to find not one but three red bearded and horned oni staring at her.

Chihiro flushed. She became intensely aware of how thin the silk of her white nightgown was, and how it clung to her skin and hid nothing. She stood there in her bare feet, shivering slightly. One of the oni stared down at her breasts where the silk rested against her skin, and licked his lips. There was a glint in his eye. Chihiro felt blood flush her cheeks. She stared at the floor and walked over.

The oni led her past Kitsune, who watched helplessly, saying nothing. They marched her out of the room and through the halls, one walking in front and two behind. She felt the oni's gaze on her back like a slimy touch, and shuddered. The oni laughed softly.

To distract herself, Chihiro reached into her pocket and brushed the dragon scale lightly with her fingertips.

 _Haku?_ She called out, tentatively.

A wave of pain and fear hit her, bringing bile to the back of her throat and making her head spin. It slowly faded away. _Chihiro?_ The thought came through not quite focused, as though pushing through a thick fog.

 _Haku, are you alright? Where are you?_ She showed him the images she saw through her eyes, the blank hallways and the oni before her.

 _Chihiro…_ Chihiro heard Haku let out a ragged breath, as if he were panting. _Lin told me… your memories were coming back…_ Haku seemed to have trouble forming coherent thoughts. _She's… watching… us now. I'm… sorry… the promise… I'm … so sorry…_

Haku's voice faded away. She was left only with the weight of heavy foreboding pressing down in her chest and the sensation of the cold marble floor under her feet. Chihiro shivered with dread. She had never heard more than words through the connection before, and now all that pain… The walk through the hallways lasted an eternity.

They finally came to a stop before the room of stars. The doors opened and revealed what lay behind them. Chihiro screamed.

The white dragon from her dreams, the dragon, Haku, her Haku, golden chains bound him held in place by a thick golden collar and shackles. His fur was matted with rust, with drying blood. Her head exploded; dark spots danced across her vision and she was screaming something: _NO! NO! HAKU!_ but she couldn't reach him. She strained against the ground with her feet, plunging forwards toward him but he didn't get any closer, she wanted to touch him to heal him _why wasn't she moving?_ Tears streamed down her face but she wasn't aware of it only of Haku's chains rattling as he roared and lunged at her and the pain in her head blinding her and her screaming and when drops of his blood hit her they burned like acid they burned. The world was fading away everything was getting smaller and smaller but she fought against the unconsciousness threatening to take over and she screamed her defiance at the spell Haku was _hurt_ there wasn't _time_ for sleep _._ But the pain, it cleaved her head in two she tried to close her eyes against it but they were locked on Haku and she became aware that _he_ was the source of her pain and he lunged again and she screamed because it was all she could do but now she screamed in anger and fear…

Then darkness closed in, wonderful, cool, darkness and relief.

* * *

Chihiro's eyes met Haku's, and she began to scream. " _NO! NO! HAKU!"_ The sound and the force of her thoughts pierced him like ice and pulled him out of the pain-filled haze. For a second he saw himself through her eyes. _Chihiro, it's just me, don't cry, it's just me. Chihiro, it's okay, I'm okay…_

"And you thought she saw you as her friend," Akuma laughed, talking above the sound of screaming. "You _fantasized_ that she might _love_ you. See what good comes of loving a human. She screams at the very sight of you. You are a monster from her nightmares! You will never be _anything_ but a monster."

 _I'm triggering her memories. Akuma must have planned this,_ Haku realized. He roared in pain and fury, trying to change back into human form. The chains on his body and the golden collar tightened; the spikes lining the inside the collar pierced in deep under his scales. Blood ran in rivulets down his sides and legs and onto the floor. He lunged at Akuma, snapping his jaws closed an inch from his face. _YOU'RE the monster!_

"Just _try_ to change, boy," Akuma snarled. "You think I would be so incompetent? I designed that collar especially for you." He tapped Haku lightly on the nose, who flinched away as though from a blow. Akuma smiled.

Blood flew from his mane splattering the ground and Chihiro, who recoiled. She was straining toward him but the oni standing behind her had grabbed ahold of her arms and every step she tried to take just wrenched them more. _Chihiro, Chihiro…_ Haku wanted to take her in his arms, to comfort her, but she was screaming again, and crying. The blood vessels in her eyes popped from the pressure of her screaming and her tears were mingled with blood.

Haku couldn't help himself. He tried to reach for her with his muzzle, the only way he knew how in this form. Her eyes widened and her screaming became hysterical with fear, sharp, piercing, urgent. Haku shrank back. _Am I a monster?_ And then she collapsed, and was still. The quiet hung like a curtain in the air.

"Big mistake," Akuma commented. "I bet she thought you were going to eat her, a great bloody beast like you. Still think she'll ever be able to look at you again, after that?" He leaned it toward Haku. "You _are_ a monster, you know," he whispered. "I know what you did to that tengu. Yubaba may have tried to protect you, but you _can't hide from me._ Let her know that from me, if you live."

Haku did not respond except for a low growl, his eyes still on Chihiro. Akuma glanced around. One of the oni had bent down to reach for Chihiro.

"Not yet, you fool!" he said, knocking the offending oni back with a gesture. "We need her whole to break the bond between the worlds. After she's dead, then, you can do whatever you want with her." He looked over his shoulder at Haku, whose eyes were narrowed in defiance, and sneered. "I'll even dress her in her wedding clothes for the occasion, just for you. Now, won't that be nice?"

 _DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!_ Haku screamed and thrashed against his bonds toward Akuma, but all that came out was an ear-splitting roar. The chains held tight and did not give.

Akuma patted his cheek, easily dodging Haku's teeth. "Settle down now," he said. "You'll be here for a good long while. Feel free to bleed to death while you wait, if you'd like. I'll take care of you after we finish our business with your little lover at the borderlands, if you're still alive when I get back. I very much doubt it." With that, he led the oni, one of them carrying the unconscious Chihiro, out of the room. The door slammed shut.

Haku sank to the floor, all defiance gone. The spikes dug into his flesh but he was numb to it, the physical pain almost a relief from the turmoil inside.

 _Lin,_ he whispered hoarsely. _What am I going to do?_

There was only silence.

* * *

Lin tore her gaze away from the image in the air. She had seen and heard everything, and she had no words to comfort Haku. "Kamaji," she said, shaking. "We have to tell the others what happened." The soot balls crowded around, offering their comfort.

The air rustled with the spider's movements, and Lin heard the twanging of the silk above as he plucked the appropriate strands.

"Yes, Kamaji?" Tenryu's voice filled the room.

"Tenryu," Lin said, "Akuma is taking Chihiro to the border. Haku is trapped in his palace, and he's badly hurt." She fought to keep her voice calm.

"Which Gate?"

"He didn't say," Lin said.

"Shika," Tenryu said on the other side of the connection, "Lin says Akuma is headed for the border. We need to be prepared wherever they appear. Go ready the family. Lin, keep the network open and let us know as soon as they are sighted."

"What about Haku?" Lin asked. The image of Haku still hung in the air above. He seemed to be unconscious - _had he gone into shock?_ \- and blood was beginning to pool on the floor around him.

"We need to cover Gates on every continent. We're spread too thinly as it is. We don't have anyone to spare."

"Haku is DYING," Lin shouted. "Where's your king going to come from if you let him die, Tenryu?"

"Haku is not the only candidate, Lin. If Fujisan gets the throne the Spirit World will survive. However, we will _not_ survive if the worlds are split. We can't save both Chihiro and Haku, and right now it's more important to stop Akuma. I'm sorry, Lin." He broke the connection.

"Haku was right about all of you," Lin said to the air. "You roped him in and now you leave him to die. You disloyal pigs."

Lin looked up at Haku. She could see his chest rising with each shallow breath, his heart pumping blood out of his body with every beat. The breaths were only getting shallower. He was still alive, but not for much longer.

"Kamaji," Lin said. "How can they just give up on him?" Her voice broke.

"Remember… remember when Sen first came here, and Haku was still Yubaba's apprentice… remember how he protected Sen…" She knew that Kamaji had been there and knew all of this, but she couldn't seem to stop talking. "No one else understands but, Sen could easily have ended up servicing the customers here. A girl at her age would have been popular with the guests, even though she was human. Haku understood enough to protect her from all of that ugliness… by giving her the most unglamorous job…with me…"

Kamaji clicked his mandibles, drawing Lin's attention upward. A man and a woman had entered the image. The white dragon was now almost completely still. Lin took a slow breath. The man was Fujisan.

Fujisan knelt down next to Haku, indifferent to the blood soaking his clothes, and placed his hands on Haku's head. He whispered something. The blood on the floor bubbled and began to flow back into Haku's body. The woman pulled a ring of tiny, golden keys from her sleeve. There were marks on her wrists, as if they had been chafed raw by rough rope recently. The woman bent down and unlocked the collar and then the shackles that bound Haku.

Fujisan ran his hands over Haku's wounds, which closed beneath his touch. The woman pulled the chains aside and tossed them in a pile on the floor.

"Kitsune," Fujisan said. "Stay here with my brother. If he wakes up, take him wherever he wants to go. He's in no condition to fly."

"If…" Kitsune said. "Are we too late? But you just healed him…"

"I don't know," Fujisan said.

"Where are you going?" Kitsune asked.

"Home, to get my father. One way or another, we're going to need him before the day is out. He _has_ to do something now."


	23. Chapter 19 - Dreams

_Haku stood on a clifftop, his back to her, looking out over the sea. The sea breeze tugged at his hair and clothes, making the wave in the wind. He looked beautifully, wonderfully unscathed._

" _Haku!" Chihiro called, running toward him. "I thought you were… Thank goodness you're okay…" She paused, confused. Her heart briefly stopped. Haku was taller and older, and there was a woman with him. They were holding hands. The woman turned around to look at Chihiro. She looked familiar._

" _Lin?" Chihiro said._

 _The woman smirked. "That's right, klutz. I see you thinking of Haku as 'your dragon.' Put those thoughts away now, he's mine. Did you really think that Haku was going to wait for you all these years? He's the king of the spirits now, and you're just a little human girl. You're not worth his time. You never will be."_

" _All these years? But I thought…. Haku, what's going on?" Chihiro asked._

 _Haku didn't turn around, and he didn't answer._

" _Isn't it obvious?" Lin said. "He belongs in the spirit world, and you do not. Now run along." She made a shooing motion with her hand, and turned away. She placed her head on Haku's shoulder, whispering in his ear._

" _You must understand-" Chihiro whirled around to find Shika behind her, speaking in his dry voice. "The prince's bride must be someone who's willing to give him all of herself. Would you be able to do that? You have your family at home, your friends, college to go to; you have a whole life in front of you. It's for your own good, you know. It's better to give up your fantasies now, before you get hurt."_

" _But what happened? Where am I?" Chihiro asked. "Why won't Haku talk to me?"_

" _Because he doesn't want to hurt you, dearest," Shika said, shrugging. "As for where you are, you are looking into the future. You've glanced into Haku's and Fujisan's pasts before in your dreams, without realizing it, and now you're looking forward. You really have quite the talent for this. You can do so much with your life, accomplish so much, if you have the ambition to."_

 _Risuni suddenly appeared next to her. "Chihiro, they used you. They wanted to make Haku king, and they used you as leverage. They made him agree to take the throne in exchange for your life, and now they're never going to let you see him again. He agreed, though, to keep you alive. He might have felt something for you back then. Now he's drunk with power. He won't give that up to be with you. He'd rather be king. There's nothing in the Spirit World for you now, Chihiro. Come home and you can have your life back again. Come home and live your life where it's safe, before it's too late."_

" _Let me show you something, Chihiro," Fujisan said. He pulled Chihiro into a vision. She saw the Kohaku River as it had been, before it had been filled in, before the village had even become a town. The familiar white dragon rose out of the water as the river flooded its banks, knocking down the wooden huts of the village and dragging debris along. The dragon attacked those who couldn't run from the water fast enough, drinking in their last breaths greedily one after another. "Look at my brother, Chihiro. Do you really want this force in the Human World? Would you unleash this on your people? Do you really want to stay with_ this _? You understand so much already, surely you understand…"_

" _You're not good enough for him." "Would you give your life away?" "Forget him. You would never be happy with him." "He's a danger to your people." They had surrounded her. Their voices swirled around her until she couldn't tell one from another. Chihiro shielded her head with her arms, as if she could keep the voices at bay that way. One thing stuck out to her._

 _Chihiro reached out a hand and caught the front of Shika's shirt. "You!" she exclaimed. The voices stopped. "You said this was a dream!" She was lucid now. "You're not real! Furthermore, this is_ my _dream. That means_ I'm _in charge. Get out of_ my _dream!" One by one, the dream figures faded away into nothing, leaving the cliffs, the sea, and Haku._

 _Chihiro walked up the path toward Haku, put a hand on his shoulder, and turned him around. She gasped, and stumbled backwards. It had looked like Haku, but it wasn't Haku. It had red eyes. The red eyes looked out of place on Haku's pale face._

" _Surprissse," the thing hissed. It grinned widely, revealing a predator's sharp teeth. "My dear brother was right, Chihiro. Thisss is what I really am, and in your foolishnessss you have banished your protectorssss." It morphed into the white dragon and sprung at her._

" _No," Chihiro said, hoping she wasn't mistaken. Her heart raced as she battled her fear for control of her feet. "You are not Haku. Haku could have killed me long ago. He's had plenty of opportunity." The dragon froze, and Chihiro continued, encouraged. "He could have slit my throat in my sleep and eaten me. No. You are a figment of my subconscious imagination. Go away."_

 _The dragon vanished in a puff of smoke, and then Chihiro was alone._

" _Impressive," said a voice. It came from everywhere and nowhere, all at once. "You have an unreasonable amount of trust in someone you haven't seen in seven years. But are you sure? He has killed, you know, and recently. A fellow spirit struggled to breathe as water forced itself down his throat and into his lungs, but he was merciless. You think he is a good person, but there is no good or bad for spirits, you see. What is morality to a river?"_

 _Chihiro looked around, chin set. There was nothing there. The voice kept talking._

" _Is it wisdom or foolishness? I had not believed it, but you_ are _the threat Akuma made you out to be. No matter. It'll all be over in a few hours, and by then, you're going to wish that that pretty boy of yours_ was _evil. We hoped you'd volunteer to take care of him for us, but you are much too strong-willed for that. No matter. You will watch, instead."_

" _What are you talking about?" Chihiro demanded. "Who are you?" But there was no reply._

 _There was nothing left to do. Chihiro set off across the dreamscape, determined to find someone who could explain everything to her._

* * *

Lin looked up at the image of the unconscious Haku and the fox-woman keeping vigil over him. She was worried. She had been keeping an eye on them while conversing with the keepers of each Gate, passing messages back and forth. At first, Haku's breathing had eased and become stronger, and Lin had been relieved. All of his physical wounds had disappeared when Fujisan had spoken the spell over him. There was no visible indication that he was hurt, and yet, the movement of his chest had since slowed. Lin could tell from the lines of concern on Kitsune's face that Haku's condition had not improved. Something was obviously still wrong. Lin wished Fujisan had explained exactly why Haku still might not survive, and whether she could do anything about it. She wished she were not stuck in the bathhouse.

* * *

 _Puffy clouds migrated across the blue sky overhead. Long grasses waved in the breeze at her feet. She could feel the wind off the sea on the face. But still it felt like a mirage. The smell of salt was conspicuously absent. A trail led down the hill and away from the sea. Chihiro followed it along the rocky shore for what seemed like hours. The dreamscape was beautiful but barren, and there was no sign of life anywhere._

 _She came to a ravine. Below, a river had once carved through the rock to feed into the ocean. Chihiro carefully picked her way down into the valley. The rocks were loose underfoot, and tangled briars, as grey as the rocks, lined the sides of the trail. She followed the gorge upstream. The riverbed shrank as she went, until the streambed had nearly disappeared beneath the overgrown greenery. It had obviously been dry for years, and even then, must have been no more than a trickle._

 _Chihiro was confused. It didn't make sense. Where had the river's water come from, if not upstream? She was so intent on her thoughts that she almost missed the shadowy figure standing beside the trail._

 _The figure was translucent, as it not completely there, and wore a white mask instead of a face. It was beckoning to her with one thin arm. She approached warily, mindful of the characters she had met in the dream thus far. "Are you going to hurt me?" she asked._

" _Follow me," it whispered. Even its voice was like a shadow. "There is something you should see."_

" _Who are you?" Chihiro asked._

" _A friend," it replied._

 _The figure led her further up the riverbed until a hole appeared where the spring water must once have welled up from the ground. The opening was small and well hidden under layers of fallen leaves._

 _They entered a cave in the cliff face. In the inner chamber there was a small pool, set in the floor. In the surface of the water Chihiro saw Haku, in dragon form. His wounds were gone, and his eyes were closed. He looked to be asleep._

" _Call to him, Chihiro. Haku is dying."_

 _Chihiro recognized Zeniba's voice as it reverberated through the cave._

" _Dying?!" She cried. "Zeniba, where are you? Is it true?"_

" _Call him back," the voice repeated._

" _How? I'm trapped in a dream!" Chihiro said, but the voice had gone. She peered again into the pool where the white dragon lay. She had first met him, less than a month ago. It had been a whirlwind since, and they'd had little time to talk. "What can I do? How do I call you?" She asked softly. "I barely know you." Then she realized that though she was looking directly at the dragon, there was no pain._

" _It doesn't hurt anymore!" Chihiro told No-Face. "Is the spell broken?"_

" _No," No-Face said. "Your memories have always been here in your dreams, waiting for you. Reach for them now."_

 _Chihiro closed her eyes. Seven years ago. That's what Haku had said, when he met her in the forest half a lifetime ago. He had been looking for someone, he said, and now Chihiro realized that it must have been her. Seven years ago. What had been happening seven years ago?_

 _That was the year they had moved out of the city. She remembered that day vividly. They had driven down the highway and taken the wrong exit, and they had gotten lost. They had driven through the forest at breakneck speed, down the trail lined with little cinderblock houses, and had almost crashed into the short stone statue in the clearing. There had been a huge red plaster building with a tunnel in its side, and Dad had thought it was an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro remembered that the wind that tried to push them in._

 _Chihiro opened her eyes in shock. Where had the red building come from? There had never been a red building there before that she'd seen, in any of her visits to that clearing in the last seven years; and yet there it was, clear as day in her memory, as if it had always been there. In her waking recollections of that time, she and her parents had gotten out of the car and wandered around the clearing for a short time before they left. They were surprised when they finally got to the house and found no one there. The moving company had left all of their things in the house and the door gapingly wide open. Her father had left many angry messages with the company secretary, trying to find someone to blame. It was a miracle that nothing had been stolen._

 _Chihiro let her newfound memories take over again. She saw the tunnel that opened out to the bright red plaster building and the grass covered fields beyond, swept with wind and dotted with stones. She saw the immense and beautiful bathhouse and heard the rumble of the train below. She remembered seeing Haku for the first time, shock and fear on his face as he urged her to leave. She felt the wind on her face as the lamps lit and she ran down the steps into the street. She saw her parents turn into pigs. The feelings, the feelings were so vibrant she could hardly believe it. The sense of wonder as she saw the spirit world for the first time, the panic coursing through her as she realized it wasn't a dream, the fear when she saw her hand move through Haku's._

 _And then Kamaji, the sootballs, riding the elevators with Lin, signing Yubaba's contract, working on the bathhouse floor, the stink spirit-turned-river spirit (had that been Tenryu?), No Face._

 _And then she stood on a high balcony and looked out over a vast sheet of water. A cliff rose out of it to the south. Atop these rested the long, flat pigpens. She rested her arms and chin on the wooden railing and sighed._

 _Where is Haku? she said to herself, sleepily. He better get here before I forget what my parents look like. I sure hope Dad hasn't gotten too fat… He promised to come back soon._

 _The wind blew gently across the face of the water and played with her hair. Waves lapped at the side of the cliff. The water was blue and clear, like a sea. Fish swam beneath the waves, and below that, the railroad tracks ran into the distance. Something white flashed through the air below._

 _Chihiro raised her head, startled by the disturbance. It was the white dragon from before, and it was in trouble. White specks surrounded it like a murder of crows. The dragon twisted and thrashed through the air, trying to throw off the white flecks. It shot straight up, and then fell back down into the water in a desperate attempt to rid itself of flutterlings. The white things hovered above the spot where the dragon sank like angry bees._

 _Chihiro leaned over the railing to get a better look. Where those_ birds? _The dragon streaked through the water in Chihiro's direction with the strange birds following it above the waterline. The dragon reached the base of the bathhouse and flew straight up along the wall. Chihiro had to jump back to get out of the way. The birds sped through the air after it, making a tremendous rustling noise._

 _The dragon soon came into sight again, still surrounded. It was white with green trimmings, exactly the color of Haku's eyes._

" _Haku!" Chihiro yelled. "Fight 'em! Come on!" She stopped, startled. How did she known that the dragon was Haku? It didn't matter. "Haku!" she called. "This way!" The dragon torpedoed toward the balcony window at Chihiro, making her shriek and hurl herself aside. The birds were close behind. Chihiro tugged at the balcony doors as hard as she could to close them, but they were stuck. She pulled harder. White things flew through the window straight into her, peppering her and the windows with their bodies. Chihiro screamed and flailed around wildly to get them off her, but they were just paper, and they fluttered to the floor. The ones that were still mostly whole picked themselves up and drifted back outside. Chihiro watched as they floated leisurely away._

 _She looked into the room. Wooden window panels had been knocked down by the impact of the dragon flying in. Several of the cabinet doors had fallen off and they were smeared with blood. The room was a mess. The dragon was even smaller than it had first seemed – not even the full length of the room. It was bleeding from shallow cuts all over its body and panting heavily. Blood dripped from its mouth._

" _Haku," Chihiro said worriedly. "You're bleeding."_

 _Haku raised his head up to look at her, chest heaving. She couldn't tell if he recognized her._

" _Hold still. Those paper things are gone now," Chihiro said. "You're going to be alright."_

 _He flew straight at her and out the window, making her jump aside yet again and splattering blood everywhere._

 _The scene shifted. The dragon snarled at Chihiro and showed his teeth, snapping at her. She held out her hands and desperately tried to calm him down. The wooden wall and floor were covered in blood, and more splattered as the dragon writhed in pain._

" _This is serious," an old man said gravely from behind her. "It looks like he's bleeding from the inside."_

" _The inside?" Chihiro asked._

" _That's right. Maybe he swallowed something."_

 _Chihiro pulled a green ball of medicine out from her pocket. "Haku, I got this medicine from the river spirit. Eat it! Maybe it'll help!" She bit off half of it and showed it to the dragon. "See? It's okay. Now open your mouth. Come on, be good…"She forced the dragon's mouth open and put the ball of medicine in as far as she could reach. "There, got it!" She clamped the dragon's mouth shut and held on for dear life as it thrashed._

 _The scales dissolved into the air, leaving an unconscious Haku, lying face down and white as death._

 _Just like he was now._

 _Dreams came rushing back. Haku letting the doors of the bathhouse swing closed behind him for the last time and flying for the border, only to find that he could not cross. Haku slamming himself into the barrier until he dropped from the sky and wandering through the plains until he collapsed from exhaustion, until at last Zeniba found him. All to keep his promise to her._

 _She remembered her red-faced reaction the first time she had seen him. He was good looking, yes. She had crushed on him, yes. But what he meant to her was so much more than just a crush. And what she had meant to him all these years, she could not even begin to imagine._

 _She looked down at the surface of the pool where her old friend lay dying._

" _Nigihayami Kohakunushi," she called. The words didn't sound quite right. She tried again. "Haku," she said quietly. "I knew you once. No. I know you. I may have forgotten you, but I never stopped knowing you. We've grown, you know. It's not the same as it was. We're different people now. Even if I'd remembered, I wouldn't know you like I used to. But no one ever knows another person completely. All we have is what we were yesterday, and what we are likely to become tomorrow. I don't need to know everything about you to know that I care about you. I don't need to know you to know that you are my friend. But I want to know you, to really talk to you, but it seems that every time we meet, we're caught up in something bigger than ourselves, and it pushes us apart._

" _You can't die, Haku. You went through so much to keep that promise, that we'd see each other again. And you did it. You're strong. I know if. You need to hold on now. The spirit world needs you._ I _need you. I want more time with you. I want to get to know you, to see what's become of our friendship. To see if there's a chance… If you can hear me, come back to me."_

 _She looked at No Face. "Will he be alright?" she asked._

" _We can only wait and see," he replied._

 _Chihiro looked back down into the pool. There was no response. The dragon was frustratingly still. Chihiro felt her eyes growing hot. "Live, damn it!" she yelled. "Don't you dare die on me now! You, you can't… die… " She burst into tears._

 _There was a howling wind, and the dream disappeared. She was standing in front of Akuma._

* * *

Movement caught Lin's attention. Kitsune had stood up.

"Where is she going?" Lin said to herself. Her heart bucked into her throat. The white dragon was completely still. "No!" she scream-whispered. "Haku! You can't die! Now's not the time!"

"Lin. _He_ is here. And he has Chihiro with him." It was the eagle spirit who guarded the Gate on the fog covered Pacific coast, halfway around the world.

Lin tore her gaze away from Haku. She took some seconds to compose herself, then asked: "At Mount Mazama?"

"They are crossing Llao's lake, headed for Phantom Ship Island. My people dare not go there."

"Try to convince them. Llao is long gone. I'll send help as fast as I can."


	24. Interlude: Train

**Interlude: Train**

The train parted the shallow sea. The waves collapsed onto the rails as the last car passed and left ever-widening ripples in its wake. Singular trees passed slowly in the distance. Haku looked back, wanting to watch the station platform fade into the distance. He had been waiting alone there since the beginning of time, it seemed to him, and finally, he was on his way.

The station was only a dark line in the water. A figure stood there, watching.

 _Chihiro?_ Haku thought. He felt something wake up deep within. _What am I doing here?_ The train disappeared. He was standing on the tracks, looking back at the platform. "Haku," the figure called. Her voice echoed over the expanse of water. The water came up to his knees, but he could not feel it. _Am I dreaming?_ He began to walk, and then run, back toward the station. His legs felt heavy. The water pushed him back. Still, the figure grew quickly until he could see her face and the hand she reached out to him.

He reached for her hand, and then the ground dropped out from beneath his feet. He found himself falling into an infinitely dark pit. He saw Chihiro's face looking at him from over the edge and then he felt her hand gripping his wrist. He looked down. Shadows reached out of the pit, visibly flickering over his white clothes. He hung there for a moment, and then felt her pulling him up out of the pit. He reached up with his other hand and found a fingerhold on solid ground, and looked up at her.

"Chihiro," he said.

"Remember," she said. "I'm your friend."

Her voice echoed as if it came from a long ways away. Her hand was slowly becoming insubstantial in his. She was fading.

"Chihiro, no!" Haku cried as she disappeared, along with her hold on him. He caught the ledge with his other hand and slowly pulled himself up over the edge. She was nowhere to be seen. The world itself was fading into darkness as well, and there was a blinding pain. In the boiler room, beneath the bathhouse, Haku's tail whipped through the air into Kitsune and smashed her into the wall.


	25. Chapter 20 - Confrontation

**A/N - Early chapter release at reviewer's request**

 _Chihiro blinked. She could feel the wind on her skin through the thin nightgown and the sharpness of rocks under her bare feet. She was on a rocky outcropping. There was water beyond, and sunlight glinting off its calm surface. It was as if she'd woken up. Akuma stood before her. She tried to ask him where she was, why he was doing this, but to her horror, her mouth would not move. As hard as she tried, she couldn't make a sound. Her limbs would not respond. Her arms were trapped at her sides. She could not run._

 _Akuma smiled at her, showing his teeth. He had a long, white bundle of silk draped over one arm. "Your wedding gown," he said, indicating the bundle. "Don't be shy. I won't let any of the oni see you." Chihiro felt her hands, as if they belonged to someone else, untying the ribbons around her waist that held the robe in place. The cloth slid from her shoulders and pooled around her ankles, exposing her to the wind. Haku's scale peeked out at her from beneath the folds in the silk, but she could not touch it, and her feet did not obey her._

 _Her arms raised themselves as Akuma walked toward her, holding up the white bundle by the shoulders. It was a kimono. Chihiro wanted to pull away but she stood there, unresisting, as he slipped the kimono around her. His hands were like ice. He pulled and tied the kimono into place, and then bent down, and picked up the scale. He smiled again._

" _We'll have some fun with this, shall we?" he said. He led her over to where a large flat stone rose from the ground and Chihiro could only watch as she lay herself down on it, and closed her eyes, trapping herself in darkness once more._

" _Don't fret, my dear," Akuma whispered in her ear. "The next time you wake, it'll be in the arms of your dragon boy."_

* * *

Haku groaned. His long tail and mane dissolved, leaving him on his hands and knees, retching. It was as if the blood in his veins had been set on fire. He crouched there and shook violently.

 _Breathe,_ the King's voice sounded inside his mind. _Feel it simmer beneath your skin._

The pain was nothing like the bruises of training, but Chihiro was waiting. He took a long, slow breath. The pain washed over him in a wave and darkness swelled at the edges of his vision. He let it overwhelm him, blocking out any other thought except for the sound of his own breath, and did not notice the fox woman watching him with concern. He exhaled raggedly. Breath by breath, he pulled the pain inside where he could understand it. Where it was a part of him. And though the pain did not diminished by an iota, it slowly became bearable, and he was able to raise his head and look around. There was a strange woman sitting next to him, watching him with a look of relief on her face. She had one long cut on her forehead, and her wrists were chafed raw. The floor was dry, and clear of blood. The golden chains were piled in a small heap in the corner.

 _Lin,_ he called out softly.

 _You're alive!_ Lin shouted.

 _There's no need to sound so excited._ Haku said. The pain was bubbling just beneath the surface, threatening. He focused in on the air leaving his lungs. _I'm only barely alive. What happened? Who is that woman?_

 _Her name is Kitsune. Fujisan healed you and told her to wait to see if you would wake up._

 _Fujisan healed me?_ Haku asked.

"How are you feeling?" Kitsune said. "Fujisan said you might not wake up. I'm to take you wherever you need to go. You're not supposed to fly in this condition."

Haku took stock mentally. She was right. There was no way he could transform in his current state.

 _Lin,_ he thought. _Where do I find Chihiro?_

 _Akuma took her to the gate at Mount Mazama,_ came the reply.

"Lin says Chihiro been taken to Mount Mazama," Haku said to Kitsune. "Can you take me there?"

"Who's Lin?" Kitsune asked. She was still dizzy from knocking her head against the wall, and forgot what she had asked almost immediately. "Mount Mazama," she said. "Yes. Can you walk?"

Haku shook his head. "I need a few minutes," he said. "Then I will be ready. Tell me what's happened."

"Akuma had me tied up - he must have suspected - and then Fujisan came and untied me and we came looking for you. You were unconscious. We took the chains off and Fujisan used some kind of spell. The blood on the floor flowed back into your body and it closed your wounds. And it's been two hours since, maybe three."

Haku nodded. His eyes had been closed as he listened, and his breath had gotten steadier and stronger as Kitsune talked. Now, he opened his eyes. "Let's go," he said.

"Wait," Kitsune said. "Chihiro had something of yours with her, didn't she? I couldn't find it after Fujisan left. She still has it."

"What are you talking about?" Haku said.

"A scale," Kitsune hissed. "She said it was yours."

"It was mine," Haku said.

"But, but if _he-_ "

"Help me up," Haku said, interrupting Kitsune's protests. "We should go."

Kitsune stared as she offered Haku her hand. The mists rose up around them. Haku took the proffered hand, leaning against the fox spirit as he got to his feet, and together they entered the mist. Haku's strength was slowly trickling back. He stood straighter and straighter.

The trip was short. They entered the reality of the island after only a few minutes and walked into a thick, natural fog. Llao, the spirit of Mount Mazama, long lay dormant. The lake and islands in the volcano mouth were his children, and for that reason, they had been sacred to the native people ever since their birth. Fog almost perpetually obscured Phantom Ship Island from view from the edges of the volcanic lake. Only a few lucky visitors ever got a good look at the island from the shore.

"So you didn't die after all, dragon boy," Akuma's voice said through the fog. It was slightly muffled. "And you, my dear, you couldn't stay put either, could you?"

Kitsune rubbed her wrists subconsciously. Haku saw this, and took her hand. "You don't have to stay," he whispered. She shook her head vigorously. Haku led her behind a large rock and crouched so that they were hidden. "Stay here, then," he said. He could feel the hackles on his neck rising.

"I'm disappointed," Akuma said. "Killing you would be like swatting a fly."

Haku stood up and walked out from behind the boulder. The fog dispersed. He was standing in front of a stone altar. Shadowy spirits, almost solid in the low light, had surrounded them. Chihiro lay still on the altar. Her face was pale and her eyes were closed. She was dressed in an opulent white silk kimono. A low growl formed in the back of his throat. He doubted that she had been awake to put the kimono on herself. He felt his anger burning and rising up inside him, and felt his magic spike as if fueled by the intensity of the emotion. He took a breath, quelling the shaking in his muscles. He couldn't afford to be angry. _Awareness. Concentration. Control._ He repeated the words like a mantra and pushed his rage away.

"Are you enjoying the view?" Akuma asked. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

 _Help is coming!_ Lin's voice said into Haku's mind. _Stall!_

Haku silently acknowledged the message.

"What did you do to her?" Haku asked calmly. The shadows closed in a circle around the rock, blocking Haku's view with their undulations. He walked slowly forward toward Akuma, and they parted around him.

"You meant to ask, what am I about to do to her?" Akuma said. "Her blood will be the perfect thing for tearing the worlds apart. You're just in time. How I love having an audience." With mocking gentleness, he lifted Chihiro's hand. Her fingers were wrapped around the handle of a glinting obsidian dagger. "Look at that tender skin, filled with so much life. Naughty dragon boy, wanting all that blood for yourself, surely you can find it in you to share." He traced a finger down the pale skin of Chihiro's wrist.

The shadows exploded. Haku rammed through the gathered spirits, knocking them into the air as he streaked toward Akuma. Akuma took the dagger from Chihiro and pointed it at the white serpent. With a crack like thunder the boulder behind Haku exploded, throwing shards of stone and a huge plume of dust into the air. Kitsune looked up. Haku was nowhere to be seen.

Water condensed encasing Akuma in a translucent globe. His image distorted momentarily, and then he waved his hands and gravity returned. The sphere collapsed, soaking the soil at his feet. He jumped back as the mud rose up and tried to pull his feet out from under him and at the next moment sent his long sleeve flying like a whip to block jagged pieces of ice flying at him from the air. The ice was repelled and sprayed out in all directions as they hit. The white dragon solidified and skidded back through the gravel. It hunched low over the gravel, a snarl ripping wide its mouth to show long, sharp canines.

A chill wind rose and frost formed over the ground and ice spread from the shore of the island to the lake beyond. Snow swirled all around, though a moment before it had been a warm spring day, rendering the dragon all but invisible. _Control,_ Haku thought. He leapt at Akuma.

Akuma stepped aside and spun to evade the collision. A long claw caught his back and left a jagged tear in his kimono from shoulder to ground. He turned and glared at the dragon. He slowly reached into the sleeve of his robe. "Very impressive, my prince," he said, with a mocking bow. When he straightened, he was smiling again.

Haku collapsed and screamed. He felt as if someone had reached into his body with tar-covered hands and grabbed his intestines, covering them in slime. He shook, his fur drenched in cold sweat. He raised his head with massive effort and saw a large white scale glistening in Akuma's hands.

With his eyes on Haku's and almost caressing the scale, Akuma leaned down over Chihiro as if he was about to kiss her, and lifted her head and shoulders up so that she was cradled in the crook of one arm. He seemed to whisper to her.

From above them, an eagle shrieked. Akuma looked up. An enormous bird swooped down, a boy gripped in its talons. It released the boy at the low point of its dive before pumping its wings and rising back into the air. The boy dropped and hit Akuma, knocking the scale from his hands. He rolled when he hit the ground, and immediately turned and charged at Akuma, taking a long knife from between his teeth. Haku felt the Akuma's grip disappear and streaked in from a different direction.

Holding her hand in his, Akuma calmly brought the dagger to Chihiro's neck. "Don't move," he said. They both froze. "I'm sure that witch woman has told you how much power a little blood shed here will have, or a life taken. I would only have to press down such a little bit. Her heart would do the rest."

Suddenly, the water around them began to churn like it was boiling. Waves rose though there was no wind, and whirlpools formed. Thunderclouds gathered overhead. Out of the depths of the nearest whirlpool three figures rose standing on a column of water. The shadows writhed in fear as the water carried the figures to shore. It was Tenryu and Fujisan, and they had brought King Nihonkai with them.

"Akuma. What brings you here?" the king asked gravely.

"Nihonkai, what a pleasure," Akuma said casually. He still supported Chihiro in his arm. "You must work on raising your children to be more self-sufficient. Or how will we manage when you abdicate?"

"You lost the authority to interfere in the lives of humans long ago, Akuma," the king said. "Take your people, and leave this place."

"They don't need _my_ interference," Akuma laughed. "They wreak havoc just fine on their own, don't they, Prince Fujisan?"

"I was a fool to listen to your poisoned words, I know that now," Fujisan said. "You have no power over me any longer."

"Ah, so you're going to let Jukai watch the suicides until she becomes one herself," Akuma said. Fujisan flinched.

"That's enough," King Nihonkai said. He pulled a shining orb out from one of his sleeves and held it out in front of him. The shadows screamed as the light hit them, but Akuma started to laugh again. The king's voice rose above the cacophony, saying simply: "By the light of Amaterasu, I bid you depart." The light seemed to pull them into nonexistence, the shadowed spirits first, and finally Akuma as well, still laughing.

Haku moved first, transforming as he did. He caught Chihiro's head before it could hit the stone and with another hand guided the dagger away from her skin so it wouldn't cut her as it fell. Chihiro's eyes snapped open. Her grip on the dagger tightened, and she plunged the blade into his chest.


	26. Chapter 21 - One From Two

A drop of blood ran down the curved edge of the blade, hit the handle, and fell to the ground. The ground rumbled. Chihiro let go of the dagger as if it had burned her hand, eyes wide and gasping. She took a step back and stumbled, almost falling over the uneven ground before Haku caught her by a thin wrist. She stared in shock at the inch of black glass knife protruding from the front of Haku chest.

 _Haku, what's happened?_ Lin's voice asked. _The bridges are splintering._

Haku knew that the only reason he hadn't bled out immediately was that the knife was firmly lodged and keeping the blood inside his body. Obsidian, which was formed from the blood of the earth, was one of the few non-magical things able to kill a spirit. He had very little time. But blood had hit the ground, and already the worlds were responding. Chihiro needed to stay calm so that she would understand what she needed to do next. He gently pulled Chihiro into an embrace, carefully avoiding the knife. She slowly relaxed. Haku closed his eyes, trying to control his breathing and slow his heart rate. With every beat, blood was being pumped out of his veins.

 _How long do we have?_ Haku asked.

 _Two minutes._

The eagle flew down from the sky and turned into the dark-skinned guardian of the Gate. He landed lightly on his feet and took the long knife from the boy. Then he whirled around and pointed it at the still trembling Chihiro. "Are you the real one?" he demanded. "Tell me why I should not kill you."

"Stop that, Yauxal," Haku said wearily. "You're frightening her," .

"I'm frightening her!" the eagle spirit exclaimed. Still, he slowly lowered the knife, still watching Chihiro with suspicion.

"It's okay," Haku murmured, and softly kissed the top of her head. Chihiro rested her cheek on Haku's shoulder. He was so warm. She could feel Haku shaking and his heart pounding. Somehow, knowing that he was scared as well calmed her.

"Let's do what we came here to do," Haku murmured into her hair. He spoke slowly and softly. She needed to believe that everything was okay, to trust him. He wanted desperately to know what had happened to her, if she was okay, whether she remembered him, whether it had been worth it. But there was no time left. "We need a little bit of your blood, okay?" Chihiro stiffened a little. "Don't worry," Haku said, and held her for a few agonizing seconds until she relaxed and nodded.

 _Lin,_ he thought, _is everything ready?_

 _Yes, go ahead,_ Lin said.

Fujisan hurried toward them across the rocks, looking worried, but Haku shook his head at him.

With one arm still around Chihiro, Haku led her up to the stone altar. The boy that had fought with them stood across from them. Yauxal handed the knife back to him. Without hesitation, the boy made a shallow slash across each of his palms, letting the blood fall onto the altar. Like Risuni, he had been waiting for this his whole life. He passed the knife to Haku. Haku squeezed Chihiro lightly, and then took her right hand and cut across the palm of it with the knife. He quickly did the same to his left and held their hands above the stone. The red droplets hissed as they hit the surface.

"It is done," Haku said.

 _It is done,_ Lin agreed. At the various Gates around the world, spirits, humans, and their offspring repeated the phrase and let their blood fall onto holy ground. Generations of children of both spirits and humans had patiently guarded their mixed-blood heritage for centuries. Lives, willingly given, had strengthened the connection between the worlds, and now blood and intent would bind them together until humans and spirits learned to truly live together again.

At the Gate which had started it all, in the tunnel of the red plaster building that marked the border between the worlds, Zeniiba placed two powerful seals together, end to end, one golden and one silver. One by one, members of Risuni's family let their blood fall onto the join of the seals. The seals glowed as they melted together and fused into a small metal sphere. With a soft pop, Zeniiba disappeared. Shika picked up the sphere and pocketed it. He would deliver it, in the morning, to Yubaba. The bathhouse workers would be surprised by the new attitude in their boss lady, but only Lin and Kamaji would really know what had happened. The twins would no longer be two, but one, as they originally had been.

Chihiro was hallucinating. Flecks of light swirled in front of her eyes, each one a story, a voice, a memory. She swayed on her feet, and was caught by the boy, now a man, who left a bloody handprint on her white kimono. She didn't notice; she was too busy remembering.

She remembered all that had happened that day they had moved. She remembered forgetting when she passed through the Gate - an odd feeling. She remembered all of the dreams in which her memories had been kept safe. She remembered all that had happened with Shika on the way to Tokyo, and in Akuma's palace, and in the magical sleep Akuma had put her under. She remembered remembering in that sleep, and she remembered forgetting again upon waking up. She remembered having no control over her body and stabbing Haku.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Haku collapse. Falling dislodged the knife, and blood gushed out, quickly pooling on the ground around the wound. Chihiro found herself kneeling next to Fujisan on one side, and the king on the other. They showed her where to put her hands to block the bleeding as they used magic to slowly knit together heart muscle and lungs, which had both been cleanly pierced by the sharp obsidian. Their hands were steady and able, but it still seemed to Chihiro that they couldn't work fast enough. _How much blood could one person lose?_ Chihiro thought _. How many times a day could a person almost die and still live?_

The sun had nearly gone down by the time Chihiro finally stood up. Haku had not woken, but his wounds were closed and he was breathing now, slowly and steadily. Chihiro was bloody and tired, and her knees hurt from kneeling on the rocky ground. She didn't care. Haku was alive. She turned around slowly without seeing anything, and almost fell over when Risuni hugged her, hard. "Thank goodness!" Risuni exclaimed. "It's over now. Are you okay?"

Risuni had barely let go when Shika grabbed her to squeeze her and lift her off her feet. "Tenryu was completely right about you," Shika said, when he had set her down again. "Haku wouldn't be alive if not for you. Zeniba told us what happened while Haku was unconscious."

"He almost died because of me," Chihiro said grimly. All of the events of the day suddenly caught up with her.

"Well you killed him once, and saved him twice," Shika said. "I'd say that you're still doing pretty well."

"Shika!" Risuni scolded, but Shika's lighthearted banter had already brought a small, sad smile to Chihiro's face. Risuni smiled, too. "You can't control what other people think, but your friends know that it was out of your hands. Lin had her eye on you this whole time, and she says you were unconscious that whole time and didn't wake up until after."

"It was a little more complicated than that," Chihiro murmured, "but I'll explain later."

"There will be many stories to tell," Risuni said, "by everyone."

"Don't worry," Shika said. "Everything will work out, and what doesn't will blow over."

Someone tapped Chihiro on the shoulder. She turned around. It was Fujisan. Behind him, Haku was floating in the air next to the king as if on an invisible stretcher.

Fujisan bowed deeply to Chihiro. "Thank you for everything you've done for the Spirit World and for my brother Kohaku," Fujisan said. "And for me. We're going to take him back to the palace. He needs to rest."

"Should I come?" Chihiro asked.

"No," Fujisan said. "You should go home. You have a duty to your parents. Don't worry about Kohaku. We'll take good care of him."

Chihiro tried to protest, but Risuni placed a hand on her arm.

"As much as I think you should be there when he wakes up," Risuni said apologetically, "we're running out of excuses to tell your parents. The worlds are joined again, and the spell on the border is broken, so it's not like you can't see each other again. I'm sure you'll hear about it as soon Haku is feeling better."

Chihiro took a long look at the unconscious Haku, who was almost as pale now as when Yubaba had had him under her control, then took a deep breath and nodded.

"One last thing," Fujisan said. He carefully picked up the obsidian dagger from the ground where it had lain ignored. It was now clean. With the sharp tip, he drew thin line down his thumb and across his palm. Chihiro could feel immense heat emanating from the hairline cut. Fujisan traced the shape of the dagger with the hand he'd cut, and a sheath appeared around the knife, red with heat. When it cooled, Chihiro saw that it was made of the same material as the dagger itself, but smooth rather than jagged, and with beautiful white snowflakes were scattered across the face of the black volcanic glass.

Fujisan handed it to her. "Keep this," he said. "Learn to use it, and it can protect you against anything in the Spirit or human worlds." He bowed again, and then embraced her briefly, before walking back to where his father and brother were waiting. They walked together onto the rippling water, and slowly sank down beneath the waves. Chihiro stared after them for a time, and then turned away as well, gripping the still warm stone of the dagger sheath.

"Ready to go?" Risuni asked.

"What about my clothes?" Chihiro said, looking down at the white kimono she still wore.

"They're gone," Shika said. "We looked. There's nothing there."

Chihiro took a deep breath. The adventure was over. It felt as if it had all been a dream, and now it was time to wake up. With both Risuni and Shika's arms around her, walked into the mist.


	27. Epilogue - Waking

**Epilogue – Waking**

 _Guiding me... everyday you are my light…_

 _Reprise l. 15_

Wednesday, March 30th

Dear Diary,

It's hard to believe that after all that's happened, I'm leaving for University tomorrow. Classes start the day after that. I haven't heard anything about how Haku is doing, and it's almost been two weeks. Surely someone would've told me if he'd gotten worse. I wonder what's been happening. I've already finished packing. What if, after I leave, they aren't able to get in contact with me?

But there I go, worrying instead of trying to remember everything that's happened. You'd think that after everything my memory's gone through, I'd protect it better. We stayed with Risuni's family for most of the last couple of weeks. We only got back yesterday – it was so strange to have to drive to the airport and fly in a metal box; I guess I've gotten used to travelling through the mist – and we've been unpacking and cleaning and packing again. The earthquake made a mess, but most of our stuff is okay. We set up a bed for Mom downstairs, since she still needs crutches to get around, but she'll be alright. Risuni's family still isn't back, as she doesn't start school until next week. It'll be strange, going to school without her. I'm really going to miss her perfect sarcastic remarks and spending time at her house. I can't keep thinking about this, I'm going to cry…

It's been raining nonstop for the past few days. The rainy season isn't supposed to start for another couple of months. I

Later.

Dear Diary,

Sorry about the interrupted entry. I had stopped writing because someone had knocked on the door downstairs. Guess who it was? It was Haku! My parents got to the door before me and I could see the shock on their faces when they saw such a well-dressed boy (A boy! At the door! For me! And he was completely dry, of course, even though it was pouring) outside. I almost laughed. I'd been so disinterested in boys that they were probably starting to worry. The whole thing was an impossible exercise in self-control. I was so relieved to see him I just wanted to run to him and hug him, but of course I couldn't do that in front of my parents. It would probably just freak them out even more. Haku bowed to them and I had to grab the nearest umbrella and drag him out the door by the arm to prevent them from letting him in. They were too polite to shoo us out and there was no way they would've let me take him into my bedroom. _Parents_. And can you imagine if we'd have had to talk in the living room?

So we walked out into the monsoon. The umbrella I'd taken was the blue silk one meant for sun, and so of course it did no good. Good thing Haku was there. We walked around toward the school and then around library and back. He told me so many things. Risuni had already told me what happened to Zeniba (I wonder if she'll remember me?) and Lin. Haku caught me up on what's been happening at court. I finally finished reading the Kojiki - the enchanted copy from the library - so I have some idea of the politics of the Spirit World and it didn't _all_ go over my head.

I guess an exaggerated version of what had happened at Phantom Ship Island got out, and a lot of people want him to be the next Dragon King in a few months! It doesn't help that Fujisan was the main candidate, and they see Fujisan as having helped Akuma. Haku has another brother, too – Tateyama – but he was never really even under consideration. (This makes sense. Mount Tate has been dormant since the 1800s.) There's a lot of training and rituals and other things to take care of before coronation day. Haku doesn't seem happy about this, but when I asked him he says he doesn't really have any choice in the matter. The reason I hadn't heard anything until now was that he wanted to come tell me in person, and he's been caught up in court functions. I'm not very happy about it either, but I don't think I really have a right to complain. I'm not the one stuck with all of the responsibility. It's just that walking around with him was so nice, and with him being a prince and all, will we ever have the time to be two normal people?

He didn't stay long, unfortunately. He'd escaped some sort of state dinner to come here. But he asked me where I was going for University, and he promised to visit. Suddenly, college seems a lot less lonely. At least I'll have a friend who understands.

I shouldn't say that. Yumi and her boyfriend will also be going to Daito Bunka. I need to stop underestimating her. For all that she's boy-obsessed, she's a good friend. And it's not like she'll be the only boy-obsessed one there. She'll definitely get a kick out of meeting Haku. (A real live prince! Not that I can tell her that. :) )

That's it for now, diary. I'm sure I'll be too busy to write for a while. Until next time, then.

Love,

Chihiro

Reprise

(translated lyrics taken from the Studio Ghibli 25 Years Concert in Budokan)

 _In those far, far away days_

 _That warmth was the only thing I can feel,_

 _So that when getting lost in the darkness at the end of the road,_

 _All I could do is cry in loneliness._

 _When I decided to believe and go forward,_

 _The door opened, and those lights came shining on me._

 _Let's flap these wings beneath the blue sky,_

 _These linked hands will never be separated._

 _The road you lit up,_

 _Right now, I'm walking alone._

 _Let's turn straight ahead_

 _and never stop._

 _If you haven't forgotten me,_

 _I believe that we can meet again someday_

 _Guiding me... everyday you are my light..._

* * *

 **A/N After three and a half years, this story is finally finished. There will be no more revisions (although you can still find old drafts on the site). Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me since then. Thank you for reading, for reviewing, for encouraging me through your messages, for catching typos and grammatical errors. You guys are all the best.**

 **But I can hear you already. "Where is the kiss?" you ask. "Don't they get together?" And I ask you in return, if Chihiro and Haku are meant to be together, what harm comes of waiting? They have a lot of obstacles in their path. There are cultural differences between the Human and Spirit Worlds, differences that people in interracial relationships face every day. (Or even just those with different values from their parents - almost all of us.) They will deal with long distance. Chihiro will be in school and Haku has his own responsibilities - another situation that many of us have to learn to deal with. And then there's Akuma. He's not gone. To quote Lady Eboshi - "(S)He is a god. It will take more than that." And he still has Haku's scale, doesn't he? Their troubles aren't over, but that story is best saved for another time. (Sequel? We'll see!) For now though, it's time to say goodbye. I hope you enjoyed reading, and thank you all again!**


	28. AN: I could really use your help :)

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to start posting on a new platform - Tapastic. I would really appreciate it if you would drop by to check it out. The version posted there is revised from _The Other World_ (again?! yes, I know, again, sorry :P), and if you've only ever read the drafts titled _Chihiro_ you'll find many familiar elements but much better writing. I promise. If you are so inclined, head over to:

tapas dot io/series/The-Other-World1

It means so much to me that all of you have stuck around this long!

Swansae


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